{"id":327283,"date":"2025-12-21T00:13:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/327283\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T00:13:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T00:13:09","slug":"chelsea-dealt-a-huge-blow-for-aston-villa-game-enzo-maresca-has-shared-his-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/327283\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea dealt a huge blow for Aston Villa game, Enzo Maresca has shared his view"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Enzo Maresca and Chelsea have the week to enjoy a mini-Christmas break after a hard-fought battle with Newcastle, but it\u2019s not exactly a gift having to face the most in-form team in the country.  <\/p>\n<p>Aston Villa are on a frankly ridiculous run of form, a nine-game win streak that has propelled them to third in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/premier-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Premier League<\/a> after a pretty woeful start to the campaign. <\/p>\n<p>Unai Emery has his team firing on all cylinders, and Chelsea will have to be on top of their game to get anything out of it. <\/p>\n<p>Not great, then, to learn that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/enzo-maresca\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Enzo Maresca<\/a> won\u2019t be in the dugout, but rather watching on from the stands at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/club\/stadium\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stamford Bridge<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p> Maresca \u2018absolutely\u2019 committed to Chelsea \ud83d\udc40 <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TCC-5-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Enzo maresca quote\" class=\"wp-image-341110\" \/>Photo by Chris Lee \u2013 Chelsea FC\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more likely? <\/p>\n<p>Chelsea sack Maresca Maresca decides to leave     <\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>   Enzo Maresca addresses suspension after yellow card against Newcastle <\/p>\n<p>The Italian wears his heart on his sleeve, for better or worse. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/news\/enzo-maresca-clarifies-stance-at-chelsea-after-being-asked-about-post-everton-outburst\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Maresca\u2019s explosive outburst after Everton<\/a> last week was a prime example. That can be a positive too, but not today. <\/p>\n<p>He was put into the book for protesting what he viewed as unbalanced officiating. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2252844825-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Enzo Maresca coaching Chelsea vs Newcastle\" \/>Photo by Serena Taylor\/Newcastle United via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>As he explained in his press conference (via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.football.london\/chelsea-fc\/news\/enzo-maresca-press-conference-live-33094890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Football London<\/a>): \u201cI was complaining because the same foul was a yellow card for us and they did exactly the same foul three or four times, but it was no yellow card, so I asked the question and complained to the referee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maresca isn\u2019t the only one taking issue with the officiating. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/match-coverage\/eddie-howe-claims-chelsea-got-seriously-lucky-against-newcastle-united\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eddie Howe thinks Chelsea were seriously lucky<\/a> not to concede a penalty when Trevoh Chalobah sent Anthony Gordon to the ground. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a silly thing to do, really, but the Chelsea coach expresses his emotions. We\u2019ll see if it comes back to bite him \u2014 and us \u2014 next week.<\/p>\n<p> Is Trevoh Chalobah a lucky man? <\/p>\n<p> \ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n<p>   A dramatic improvement needed vs Aston Villa <\/p>\n<p>With seven days until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/club\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea<\/a> host red-hot Aston Villa, Maresca should be able to again field his strongest lineup. <\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t the issue against Newcastle, though. It was the lethargic manner in which the Blues started the game. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/match-coverage\/alan-shearer-thinks-one-chelsea-player-completely-changed-the-game-vs-newcastle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chelsea needed some Reece James magic to change the game<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>If Chelsea are to break Villa\u2019s streak, it will require a 90-minute performance, not a 45-minute one like we saw today. <\/p>\n<p>  Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enzo Maresca and Chelsea have the week to enjoy a mini-Christmas break after a hard-fought battle with Newcastle,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[294,218,221,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-327283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-enzo-maresca","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-premier-league","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}