Chelsea will have a rare game week off this weekend after being knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton & Hove Albion earlier this month.
The Blues suffered a 2-1 defeat at the Amex on February 8 to leave the Conference League as the only realistic hope for Enzo Maresca to achieve silverware in his debut season at Stamford Bridge.
But you knew that already, didn’t you? Here, football.london looks at some of the stories you might have missed.
Chelsea not eyeing new No.1 goalkeeper
Chelsea are reportedly not plotting to bring a new No.1 goalkeeper to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Current first-team shot-stoppers Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen have made several mistakes in action for the Blues this season, leaving many supporters expecting Chelsea to sign a new first-choice in the summer.
However, the Mirror reports that Chelsea are “adamant” that they will not sign a new goalkeeper in the summer transfer window because they are happy with the current options in their squad. Chelsea also have Djordje Petrovic and Kepa Arrizabalaga out on loan.
FL says: After a huge amount of investment across all areas of the squad in the Todd Boehly era, it would be totally negligent for the Blues not to strengthen their goalkeeper ranks this summer.
During their short careers at Stamford Bridge, both Sanchez and Jorgensen have proved that they are prone to mistakes and can not be trusted if Chelsea have ambitions of challenging at the top of the Premier League.
If Maresca wants to build on a better season at Stamford Bridge next time around, signing a new goalkeeper is non-negotiable.
Chelsea players hold clear-the-air talks after Brighton defeats
According to The Athletic, Chelsea’s players organised a meeting after back-to-back defeats to Brighton earlier this month.
It is claimed that the Blues players “initiated” a team meeting at Cobham, claiming that “frank words were exchanged”. Some of the key points made were that standards in training needed to improve, the players needed to be more serious and together, and that individual egos and ambitions must be set aside for the good of the team.
However, The Athletic reports that “the consensus was very positive, that honest conversation had been highly productive in terms of clearing the air”.
FL says: The fact that Chelsea’s players felt the need to hold a meeting in the first place after a poor run of form in the Premier League, is alarming.
However, Blues supporters – and Maresca, for that matter – can take solace from the fact that the Stamford Bridge stars wanted to sort out the problems that have resulted in their slump.
The Blues will hope that this meeting can spring them into life ahead of the final 11 games of the season.
