Enzo Maresca has been delighted with Chelsea's attacking prowess in the early weeks of his reign but says they have much to improve at the other end ahead of hosting Nottingham Forest.
Maresca has made a strong start to life at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues unbeaten in five Premier League matches (four wins, one draw) since a matchday one defeat to Manchester City.
No team's Premier League games have produced more goals than Chelsea's so far in 2024-25, with Maresca's men scoring 15 times and conceding seven.
Forest's games, meanwhile, have contained the fewest goals of any side in the top flight (11, six for and five against).
Chelsea edged another goalfest on Thursday as they beat Gent 4-2 in the Europa Conference League, leading Maresca to call for defensive improvements.
"I think we are performing very positively, especially in attack, it's going very well so we are happy," Maresca said.
"As I said many times already, for sure there are always things we can do better. We can attack better, we can defend much better.
"But the most important thing we can learn is that we cannot switch off. For their second goal, we saw that the game was already finished.
"If we want to take a step forward, even when you the game is almost finished, you have to continue and not give away another goal, but it was a good performance and result.
Forest, meanwhile, saw their unbeaten start to the campaign halted by Fulham last time out, losing 1-0 in the absence of star midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who was suspended after being sent off at Brighton one week earlier.
The England international has told BBC Sport he is working on controlling his temperament, saying: "If I'm at 70% or 60% going into a game, I can't play like that.
"I have to be 150% all the time. I always have to be on it and I like the feeling of having control in a game.
"Sometimes when we're having none of the ball I get frustrated, but that's when the control comes in and to understand what the manager wants from this moment."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Chelsea – Cole Palmer
Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four times in the first half of a game as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 last week.
Since his debut for Chelsea in September last year (a home defeat to Forest), Cole Palmer has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other player (43 – 28 goals, 15 assists).
Nottingham Forest – James Ward-Prowse
Forest may need some dead-ball magic if they are to earn a result, and specialist Ward-Prowse has a fine record against the Blues.
Ward-Prowse has been involved in four goals in his last five Premier League starts against Chelsea (two goals, two assists), netting the winner on his last start at Stamford Bridge with Southampton in April 2023.
MATCH PREDICTION – CHELSEA WIN
Forest won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – only once have they ever won consecutive away league games against Chelsea, doing so on their first two visits to Stamford Bridge in 1907 and 1908.
Indeed, Chelsea have won just one of their four Premier League meetings with Forest since the latter returned to the top-flight in 2022 (two draws, one loss), though it was a 3-2 victory in the teams' last such game in May.
However, since their return to the competition, no team has lost more Premier League away games in London than Forest (10).
They have lost each of their last four in the capital, conceding three or more goals each time, which will give an in-form Blues attack plenty of confidence.
Chelsea have won nine of their last 11 Premier League games (one draw, one defeat), netting at least twice in eight of those nine victories. Indeed, the Blues are the top scorers in the league this season (15) and also have the highest shot conversion rate (20.3%).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Chelsea – 62.3%
Nottingham Forest – 17.8%
Draw – 19.8%
Maresca: Chelsea 'not ready' to compete for trophies with Man City and Arsenal
Enzo Maresca says that Chelsea "are not ready" to compete for major trophies against Manchester City and Arsenal this season.
The Blues have made a strong start to life under Maresca, losing just two of their 10 matches so far.
They are currently on a five-match winning run in all competitions, most recently seeing off Gent 4-2 in their Conference League opener on Thursday.
So far, Chelsea have scored 27 goals under the Italian, with 15 of those coming in the league, outperforming their 12.2 expected goals (xG), and only failed to score in their opening Premier League match against City.
However, Maresca has insisted people should not get carried away by Chelsea's recent form, playing down their chances of lifting any silverware this campaign.
"I really don't think we can compete with City or Arsenal," Maresca said.
"I really don't think that, because we are not ready. The reason is that City has worked with the same manager for nine years and Arsenal for five years. If you want to compete for big things, you need that time.
"After Arsenal beat PSG [in the Champions League] they asked Luis Enrique, and he said the same thing, that Arsenal have had the same manager for five years and [PSG] only a year and a half.
"Imagine us, only three months… so it's a huge difference. So, I am really convinced we cannot compete with those clubs."
Before Maresca's appointment, Mauricio Pochettino only spent a season at Stamford Bridge, while Graham Potter before him was only in the position for just under seven months.
After another busy transfer window for Chelsea saw them bring in 13 players, Maresca has urged for patience as they continue to find their footing in the early stages of his tenure.
"The target is to improve and slowly, slowly to get closer to those clubs but at the moment we are not ready for that," he added.
“There is no timeframe because you can continue to improve and add solutions to things always.”
Chelsea face Nottingham Forest at home on Sunday in their final match before the international break.
Maresca: Chelsea 'not ready' to complete for trophies with Man City and Arsenal
Enzo Maresca says that Chelsea "are not ready" to compete for major trophies against Manchester City and Arsenal this season.
The Blues have made a strong start to life under Maresca, losing just two of their 10 matches so far.
They are currently on a five-match winning run in all competitions, most recently seeing off Gent 4-2 in their Conference League opener on Thursday.
So far, Chelsea have scored 27 goals under the Italian, with 15 of those coming in the league, outperforming their 12.2 expected goals (xG), and only failed to score in their opening Premier League match against City.
However, Maresca has insisted people should not get carried away by Chelsea's recent form, playing down their chances of lifting any silverware this campaign.
"I really don't think we can compete with City or Arsenal," Maresca said.
"I really don't think that, because we are not ready. The reason is that City has worked with the same manager for nine years and Arsenal for five years. If you want to compete for big things, you need that time.
"After Arsenal beat PSG [in the Champions League] they asked Luis Enrique, and he said the same thing, that Arsenal have had the same manager for five years and [PSG] only a year and a half.
"Imagine us, only three months… so it's a huge difference. So, I am really convinced we cannot compete with those clubs."
Before Maresca's appointment, Mauricio Pochettino only spent a season at Stamford Bridge, while Graham Potter before him was only in the position for just under seven months.
After another busy transfer window for Chelsea saw them bring in 13 players, Maresca has urged for patience as they continue to find their footing in the early stages of his tenure.
"The target is to improve and slowly, slowly to get closer to those clubs but at the moment we are not ready for that," he added.
“There is no timeframe because you can continue to improve and add solutions to things always.”
Chelsea face Nottingham Forest at home on Sunday in their final match before the international break.
Ten Hag's future 'not my call', says Man Utd co-owner Ratcliffe
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe says he does not hold power over the future of boss Erik ten Hag, amid the Red Devils' woeful start to the season.
United have taken just seven points from their first six Premier League matches, only beating Fulham and Southampton while suffering back-to-back 3-0 home defeats versus Liverpool and Tottenham.
That is their joint-worst return through six games of any season in the competition, having made identical starts under David Moyes in 2013-14 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21.
In the Europa League, meanwhile, United were pegged back in a 1-1 draw at home to Feyenoord on matchday one then squandered a 2-0 lead in Thursday's 3-3 draw at Porto.
Those results have led to fierce criticism coming Ten Hag's way, but Ratcliffe says United's new football hierarchy will make any decisions regarding the Dutchman's future.
Asked if he retained faith in Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in pre-season, Ratcliffe told BBC Sport: "I don't want to answer that question.
"I like Erik. I think he's a very good coach but at the end of the day it's not my call.
"It's the management team that's running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.
"But that team that's running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren't there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [sporting director] Dan Ashworth – they only arrived in July.
"They've only been there… you can count it in weeks almost - they've not been there a long time, so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.
"Our objective is very clear – we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it's not there yet, obviously – that's very clear."
United go to Aston Villa for their next Premier League game on Sunday, having won 40 Premier League games against the Villans, with only the Red Devils themselves beating an opponent more often in the competition's history (41 versus Everton).
Villa have won just one of their last 25 Premier League home games against United (eight draws, 16 losses), with that victory coming in Unai Emery's first game in charge of the club in November 2022 (3-1).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
