Chelsea star Marc Cucurella gave his honest opinion on their poor run of form (Image: Chelsea FC)
star has risked angering his boss after giving an honest yet scathing assessment of the Blues’ performances this season. The Spaniard admitted that the west London outfit have fallen off a cliff after going from potential Premier League title contenders to scrapping for Champions League qualification places in the space of two months. And his surprising view of their performances may irritate the Italian boss, having claimed they look like one of the worst-performing teams in the top flight.
“We came from not the best position these last few weeks. But in December we looked like the best team in the league, and now it looks like we are one of the worst,” Cucurella said in a news conference before facing FC Copenhagen on Thursday in the UEFA Conference League. “We are young and in football this can happen. Generally, we are playing good football.”
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insisted injuries are to blame for their poor form (Image: Getty)
are fifth in the league table and have won only three of their last 11 league matches. That was a stark comparison to their form in December, when the Blues were a few points off leaders and above .
Maresca blamed their mounting injury list on their dip in form, having lost Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia for several weeks over the festiver period. However, the 45-year-old is relieved that the trio are fit again and ready to return to action.
“Slowly but surely we are getting players back and ready for the final bit of the season,” Maresca said in Denmark. “We said already a few times, unfortunately our bad moment started with the amount of injuries.
Wesley Fofana has been ruled out through injury since December (Image: Getty)
“But some of them are already back and in the process to be back. It is a huge boost for me and for the players.”
On the return of Fofana and Badiashile, he said: “They are both ready. Trev [Chalobah] was not something serious so he is OK. Benoit has been training in the past 10 days, probably even more.
“Wes is not in the squad but he is back. Romeo has started to train with us in the last two days.”
will be looking to continue their 100 per cent record in Europe against Copenhagen after winning all six of their league phase matches in the Conference League. The Blues will also have available for selection after choosing to leave the playmaker out of their squad for the early stages of the competition.
The 22-year-old has been out of form himself, failing to score or assist in five matches domestically. But Maresca hinted he is ready to bring on the midfielder if he is required: “Now we have Premier League games and Conference League games that are all important.
“We can change players in the squad, for instance we added Cole for the final part of the season. If he is in the squad, he can play minutes, no doubt. Cole is always happy to play games, even training sessions.”