Enzo Maresca gives joyful update on 43 goal pair the team desperately need | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca took his pre-Arsenal press conference last night as an addendum to his post-Copenhagen presser, and while it wasn’t very juicy, there were some notable snippets.

On balancing the Premier League and the Conference League, Maresca had the following to say:

“In this moment we have two targets: finish top four or five for the Champions League and the other is [winning] the Conference League. This club is used to playing in finals and fighting for titles, so if we can give the fans and club this chance again then I think it’s important for us.”

After Arsenal comes the international break, there’s an even bigger milestone – the return of some vitally important players from injury. Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson have both been slated to come back in a fortnight, and Maresca confirmed they were both still on track for that:

“We hope after the international break [for their returns],” Maresca explained.

“At this moment in the season, we have lost key players that are the ones who score the goals. Nico Jackson and Noni Madueke with injury. It’s not an excuse, it’s a reality for all clubs when you lose important players. Other players have to come in and do well and they have done.”

The pair have 43 goals between them at Chelsea, and that firepower has been lacking in their absence.

Chelsea to attack final stretch with fully fit group

Nicolas Jackson in action against Brentford. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

As well as those two coming back and adding some much needed firepower, we will also have Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana with another couple of weeks of preparation and recovery to get them fully up to speed. Without wanting to jinx it, we should be back to full strength and ready for the “final sprint” with about as complete a group as we’ve had for months and months.

We’ll need them – it’s a very competitive run of games to end the season.