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• 'Maresca one of the best', says Madueke after flying season start

  Noni Madueke believes new Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is one of the best in the business and is looking forward to flourishing under his stewardship.

  Madueke, who joined the Blues from PSV Eindhoven in 2023, started the new Premier League campaign in fine form in the early tenure of the Italian.

  The 22-year-old has scored four goals in four appearances this season, netting his first professional hat-trick in their 6-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last month.

  Madueke managed just 11 goal involvements (eight goals and three assists) across all competitions last term, but feels Maresca's arrival has helped him add another level to his game.

  "He's a great guy, a good manager, a very good tactician. He's helping me a lot with my game, little details," Madueke told talkSPORT.

  "Things that you wouldn't necessarily think of yourself. I always feel like a great manager will say 'this can help you score more' or this can help you get in behind more'.

  "Little things that I feel like he's helping me with."

  His impressive start to the campaign has resulted in a first senior England call-up under interim head coach Lee Carsley for the Three Lions' upcoming Nations League fixtures.

  Only Taylor Harwood-Bellis (21) has made more appearances than Madueke (19) for England's Under-21's side during Carsley's time in charge, helping them to success at the European Under-21 Championship last year.

  However, when it was suggested that Carsley's appointment had given Madueke more motivation to impress, he insisted that his full focus remained on Chelsea.

  "Not so much England, more so because I had a new coach at Chelsea and you want to impress your new coach at your club, and just play well,’ Madueke said.

  "Every time I get the chance to play for Chelsea, it's such a massive club, I feel like it's a thing of pride, and you want to do the best you can.

  "I always want to improve my game, so this season I just wanted to start as well as possible."

  Madueke managed just 13 starts in the Premier League last season, and faces another year of fighting for his place in Chelsea's line-up. 

  The Blues welcomed 11 new faces to Stamford Bridge during the transfer window, with Pedro Neto offering the biggest threat to his starting spot on the right-hand side of their attack. 

  But Madueke is relishing the prospect of competition at the club, saying that he will embrace the situation with ambitions of succeeding at the highest level.

  "If you want to play for one of the top clubs in the world, you’re going to have to deal with competition," Madueke concluded.

  "That’s not something you should shy away from, that’s something you should just take head on.

  "If you believe you’re a good player, you want to be around good players, because it increases your level.

  "You don’t want to feel like you’re going to play every week and can just cruise through because that allows you to drop your standards a little bit.

  "So it’s good that we have a lot of great players in the building, so the training level is better and, ultimately, we’re better on the pitch when it comes down to it."

• Gallagher insists Chelsea exit not down to technical limitations

  Conor Gallagher insists his Chelsea departure was not due to him lacking the technical qualities to play Enzo Maresca's preferred possession-based style of play.

  Gallagher joined Chelsea at the age of six and progressed through the ranks before making 95 senior appearances for the Blues between 2019 and 2024. 

  He captained the side regularly under Mauricio Pochettino last season as skipper Reece James battled a series of injuries, only to find himself out of favour when Maresca replaced the Argentine.

  Gallagher sealed a £34million move to Atletico Madrid in August, amid questions around his suitability for the patient style of play favoured by former Leicester boss Maresca.

  Gallagher started 37 of Chelsea's 38 league games last season, more than any of his fellow Blues midfielders, completing 1,766 of his 1,930 attempted passes with an accuracy of 91.5%.

  That latter figure was the best recorded by any Chelsea midfielder in league action, ahead of Moises Caicedo in second (90.8%). 

  However, when those stats are adjusted to per 90 minute values, Gallagher ranked third among Chelsea midfielders for passes completed (50.7 per 90) and successful passes in the opposition half (28.56), and fourth for passes completed in the final third (15.67).

  He does not believe the narrative that he was unable to fit into Maresca's engine room is a fair one, however, saying: "I don't think that's true.

   

  "Last season I had a good season with Chelsea and you could see that by Pochettino playing me every game and showing his trust in me. 

  "The fans appreciated what I did on the pitch. I'm very grateful for all of that and very thankful to the fans, and very thankful to Pochettino for giving me that platform to go and express myself and show the best version of myself at Chelsea.

  "Chelsea make their own decisions and they've brought in some top players on long contracts. That wasn't the situation with me but what happened is good for everyone."

  Gallagher has helped his new club make a positive start to the new campaign, with Los Colchoneros sitting third in LaLiga – level with rivals Real Madrid – with eight points from four games.

  Asked about his first interactions with new boss Diego Simeone, Gallagher said: "He was very welcoming and it was, 'ready to get to work?', basically.

  "That's what he's like, that's his character; he just wants everyone to work as hard as possible, to prepare for each game and to win – and that's perfect for me."

  Gallagher will hope to feature for England when they take on the Republic of Ireland in their Nations League opener on Saturday, in their first game under caretaker boss Lee Carsley.

• Palmer excluded from Chelsea's Europa Conference League squad

  Cole Palmer has been left out of Chelsea's squad for the league phase of the Europa Conference League.

  Palmer enjoyed a brilliant debut campaign at Stamford Bridge in 2023-24, registering more goal involvements than any other player in the Premier League (33, 22 goals, 11 assists).

  However, his efforts were not enough to guide the Blues to Champions League or Europa League qualification, as they finished sixth before seeing Manchester United take England's final Europa League spot by winning the FA Cup.

  Enzo Maresca's side came through a play-off tie with Servette to reach the new league phase of the Conference League, with their first match in the competition proper coming against Gent on October 3.

  They will also face Panathinaikos, Noah, Heidenheim, Astana and Shamrock Rovers before the league phase concludes in December.

  On Thursday, the Blues released their 23-man squad for the next stage of the competition, with Palmer the most notable player to be excluded.

  Palmer has already provided four assists and scored one goal in Chelsea's first three Premier League games in 2024-25.

  He is the first player to provide four or more assists at this stage of a top-flight campaign since Paul Pogba laid on five in Manchester United's first three games of 2021-22.

  New signings Jadon Sancho, Joao Felix, Marc Guiu, Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Renato Veiga, Tosin Adarabioyo and Filip Jorgensen are included, with Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia joining Palmer in missing out.

  Chelsea will be able to add Palmer to their squad in January should they reach the knockout stages, as they bid to become the competition's second English victors, after West Ham in 2022-23.

  Full squad: Robert Sanchez, Filip Jorgensen, Lucas Bergstrom; Axel Disasi, Marc Cucurella, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile, Reece James, Malo Gusto, Renato Veiga; Enzo Fernandez, Noni Madueke, Carney Chukwuemeka, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Moises Caicedo, Cesare Casadei; Pedro Neto, Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Jadon Sancho, Marc Guiu.