Enzo Maresca suffers more bad Chelsea news after damning verdict on Brighton loss | Football | Sport

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed that Noni Madueke will be out for “a while” with a hamstring injury. The Blues winger hobbled off during their 3-0 defeat against Brighton last night.

Madueke started in front of new England boss Thomas Tuchel, hoping to win a place in the German’s first squad with Bukayo Saka likely to miss the World Cup qualifiers in March. However, the 22-year-old hobbled off in the 21st minute.

Like Saka, Madueke has suffered a hamstring injury. Chelsea are unsure exactly how long he will miss but Maresca confirmed that it will be a “while”.

The Chelsea boss confirmed: “Noni, unfortunately, is a hamstring problem so he will be out for a while.”

Chelsea were woeful against Brighton and have now suffered consecutive defeats at the Amex Stadium in the space of a week. They were beaten 2-1 by the Seagulls in the FA Cup last weekend.

The west Londoners failed to register a shot on target. They struggled without first-choice centre-forward Nicolas Jackson, who could miss six to eight weeks with a hamstring injury of his own.

Maresca admitted that it was his side’s worst performance since he arrived last summer. He told Sky Sports: “I feel pressure always, not only now, but tonight the performance we can say was the worst performance since I arrived.”

Cole Palmer initially started as Chelsea’s number nine, but the experiment failed. In the second half, Christopher Nkunku played through the middle.

Kaoru Mitoma’s sensational touch and clinical finish opened the scoring. Yankuba Minteh then struck a brace to condemn Chelsea to a third defeat in four matches. Maresca’s side are fourth and could find themselves 17 points off leaders Liverpool if the Reds beat Wolves tomorrow (Sunday).

“I think we arrived quite well in the last third and then we struggled to create chances,” Maresca said of the performance. “Something up until two or three weeks ago we were doing very well – creating chances, many chances every game.

“In this moment, the bad feeling is that we look that easily we can concede chances and we struggle to create chances. This is the feeling at the moment. The reason why, there are many reasons why. Because of the number nine and the injuries, it is part of that, but in this moment it is like this, but we have 13 games to go and we have to finish in the best way.”