BBC: Maresca’s job safe even with double defeat in biggest week of the season | OneFootball

We’re stuck in the international break right now, one which feels like it’s gone on for weeks, but before you know it Chelsea are going to be back with a bang.

Maresca won’t be under pressure even with two defeats in a week

Enzo Maresca gesticulates on the touchline. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

The Blues return to action with an early kick off against Burnley this weekend, but after that things get really fun. Next week we have the intense double header against Barcelona and Arsenal.

BBC journalist Nizaar Kinsella has been doing a Q and A this morning, and he was asked how much weight was being put on these games by the Chelsea hierarchy.

“I don’t believe defeats to Barcelona and Arsenal would be viewed as a major internal issue,” Kinsella wrote.

“Chelsea are taking a long-term approach and will assess Maresca’s performance at the end of the season. Even with those losses, he would still be in a position to secure a top-four finish and qualification for at least the play-off round of the Champions League knockout stages. That said, such results may prompt external questions about Maresca or the project more widely.”

The club’s policy of only considering changes at the end of the season looks like one they will stick to unless things really start to spiral, and while it hasn’t been an A+ start to the season, it would need to be an F before early changes were made. Maresca has tons of credit in the bank.

In other news…

Emanuel Emegha won’t be at Chelsea until next summer, but by then he could be an important part of the Netherlands team after making his debut off the bench for the national team this week.

We were all hoping that Cole Palmer would be picking up a few minutes this weekend as a sub, but it seems the chances of that are pretty slim after an exclusive update from our writer Simon Phillips.