Vital dropped points may haunt Maresca as he assesses Chelsea’s daunting run-in
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6276026/2025/04/14/Chelsea-run-in-maresca-dropped-points/
So now it is confirmed: if Chelsea are going to play in the Champions League next season, they are going to have to do it the hard way.
It has not exactly looked like plain sailing for Enzo Maresca’s side for several weeks now, but by dropping two points against Ipswich Town, they have put themselves under significantly more pressure to end the campaign very strongly.
Every season, you hear the cliche ‘there are no easy games in football’, and Ipswich certainly showed that, getting a 2-2 draw. But it could be argued that this was Chelsea’s last ‘easy’ game of their Premier League campaign given Kieran McKenna’s side are adrift in the bottom three and heading for the Championship.
By coming back from two goals down at the interval, Chelsea at least maintained their unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge in 2025. But a look at their list of opponents shows it is not a statistic to get too excited about.
This table shows their list of results in the Premier League at home this calendar year and where those opponents currently rank in the top flight:
Team
Result
Current position
Bournemouth
2-2
10th
Wolverhampton Wanderers
3-1
16th
West Ham United
2-1
17th
Southampton
4-0
20th
Leicester City
1-0
19th
Tottenham
1-0
15th
Ipswich Town
2-2
18th
Obviously you can only beat what is in front of you and Chelsea have, in the large part, taken advantage of a generous fixture list on home soil to keep themselves in Champions League contention. And it has been required given they last won away in December, a run that surely has to be brought to an end for them to finish in the top five.
Chelsea’s dejected players at full time (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
The worry has to be that Chelsea’s run-in, and the task to get the necessary points required, is one of the toughest they could face. Maresca’s side have yet to beat a side in the top 10 in 2025. From the current standings, there have been only four wins against a top-10 team all season — Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United and Aston Villa. The last of which came in the start of December against Unai Emery’s side. This hardly inspires much confidence that Chelsea can get the job done when you look at the games ahead.
As this graphic shows, four of Chelsea’s final six matches are against sides in the top half of the table:
Team
Current position
Fulham (a)
8th
Everton (h)
13th
Liverpool (h)
1st
Newcastle (a)
4th
Manchester United (h)
14th
Nottingham Forest (a)
3rd
It is not as if Chelsea can take too much comfort from the two teams in the bottom 10 that they are up against, either. Everton are one of the Premier League’s in-form teams, having lost just one of their last 12 games under David Moyes.
Even the most die-hard Manchester United fan will concede they have been terribly disappointing during 2024-25 and that should normally constitute some optimism for Chelsea about getting three points from this fixture. But while in recent years United have been a pale imitation of the club that dominated the top division for many years under Sir Alex Ferguson, they have bizarrely been a very hard team for Chelsea to beat of late. Indeed, Cole Palmer’s late heroics in stoppage time 12 months ago to turn a 3-2 loss into a 4-3 victory ended Chelsea’s run of 12 league games without a win against United.
Chelsea rode Palmer’s form this time last year to win their last five games to climb from mid-table to sixth. But he does not look capable right now of providing a similar spark this time around. He has gone 14 games in all competitions without a goal. Striker Nicolas Jackson, who hit the post against Ipswich when the game was still 0-0, is on an 11-match barren streak.
Palmer cuts a frustrated figure against Ipswich (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
The tension among Chelsea fans is palpable. Boos and groans of discontent are growing louder every game as they can see a possible third successive season without Champions League football becoming more of a possibility.
In a year when the standard of England’s top division is not at its highest and yet will get five places in the Champions League because of the UEFA coefficient, Maresca will not be forgiven by some Chelsea supporters if they fall short.
The two results against Ipswich (Chelsea lost 2-0 at Portman Road on December 30) are likely to be held against him. To get just one point against a club that has been in the relegation zone for most of the season is what could make all the difference.
When Maresca was asked by The Athletic after Sunday’s game if he is worried he might look back on the two fixtures with regret after the Champions League places have been decided, he replied: “Yeah, at the end of the season, we’ll see. Hopefully, not for us.
“But from now on, I think us and the other six-to-seven clubs that are involved in the (fight for the) Champions League spots, we are going to win games and at the same time we are going to drop points, because it’s normal.
“For sure, probably today you don’t expect to drop points, especially the way you start the game. I think for all of us it was just a matter of when we are going to score and then we concede the goal and it completely changed the dynamic.”
Should Chelsea fail to qualify for the Champions League, it will certainly affect how Maresca’s first season in charge will be perceived.
