Newcastle, May 11 (IANS) Enzo Maresca was proud of the way his players dealt with the challenge of playing with ten men for over an hour during the 0-2 loss against Newcastle United at the St. James Park on Sunday.
The head coach saw the Blues dominate parts of the second period despite being a man down after Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 35th minute. Chelsea came close to equalising on three separate occasions, Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez and Reece James all going close but unfortunately were not able to get what would have been a deserved equaliser.
‘In this stadium against this team it’s already complicated, and if you give them one extra player it’s even more difficult,’ said Maresca.
‘The red card affected the game, no doubt, but we had three big chances in the second half, which is not easy with ten men. The energy, the spirit and the togetherness of the team in the second half has been fantastic. It’s something I feel proud of.
With the loss, Chelsea will risk falling out of UEFA Champions League qualification spots as they will go down to sixth place if Nottingham Forest defeat Leicester City. It also is a missed opportunity to gain ground on Newcastle and Manchester City as the later moved up to third place.
“Now my feeling is you need to win both games [to qualify for the Champions League],’ Maresca added.
Jackson was sent off for serious foul play after VAR recommended an on-field check. The red card rules him out of the remaining league games against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
“I didn’t speak to Nico, it’s not the moment. We will speak in the next day. No doubt he has to learn from it, especially at this stage of the season where we have two more games. You have to avoid this kind of thing. You need all your squad available. It happened, and he will be out. Hopefully he can learn for the future,” Maresca said.
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