The Albany Gazette - Maresca sets top four target for Chelsea

Maresca has spent much of the season playing down Chelsea's hopes of returning to Europe's elite club competition.

But the 45-year-old, whose sixth-placed team travel to Aston Villa on Saturday, has finally admitted Chelsea have a golden opportunity to secure a top-four finish.

That would guarantee Champions League action next season, while fifth place could also be enough depending on the results of the English clubs still in continental competitions this term.

Of the sides still to visit Stamford Bridge this season, six are currently in the bottom half of the Premier League, with leaders Liverpool the exception.

Chelsea have won six of their 12 home league games so far and Maresca knows they must fix that disappointing record to clinch a Champions League berth.

"We have 13 games to go and seven of them are at home. I think that winning the seven at home can be enough to finish top four," Maresca told reporters on Friday.

"We've spent almost our (whole) season in the top four. Now we have just 13 games to go, so now the target for us is to finish top four, to try to finish in the best way."

Chelsea are one point behind fourth-placed Manchester City as they look to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2022.

But their bid could be hampered by an injury crisis that deepened on Friday when Maresca revealed England winger Noni Madueke is likely to be sidelined until April with a hamstring problem.

Maresca will be without six players against Villa and the Italian said: "The difficult moment that we have now is probably because of the injury situation. We have five, six players that are significant players that are out.

"I watched again the first game against Villa (a 3-0 win in December) and we have five players probably that are out. The team has changed completely."

Maresca is enduring the toughest spell of his tenure, with Chelsea on a run of two wins from nine in the league, having been second and two points off the summit on December 22.

He labelled their loss at Brighton last weekend as the worst of his first season in charge.

"I've been clear since day one," said Maresca. "I'm not here to survive, I'm here to win games. I'm here to bring this club to fight for titles.

"I'm ambitious. The club is ambitious. We have the same manager and same players and same sporting director as two months ago when we were second in the league.

"Nothing has changed, only unfortunately that we are dealing with many injuries. This has affected the level of the team."

(F.Allen--TAG)