The Albany Gazette - 'Honest' Maresca keeping Chelsea stars happy

In his first season in charge, Maresca finds himself saddled with a larger squad than many of his Premier League rivals after Chelsea's latest summer spending spree.

The Italian made 11 changes for the midweek League Cup victory over Barrow, with Christopher Nkunku taking his chance as the France forward scored his first hat-trick for the Blues.

However, as Maresca ponders his selection for Saturday's clash with Brighton at Stamford Bridge, Nkunku will be aware his boss has preferred Nicolas Jackson for the central striker's role in his opening five league matches.

Maresca faces a difficult task to keep his highly paid stars happy when they are out of the team, but he hopes honest conversations with players such as Nkunku will make a difference in the long term.

"I am honest, I am honest with (Nkunku) and I'm honest with all of them. I've said it many times since day one that we can't play with seven or eight attacking players as there is no defensive balance," he told reporters.

"In this moment Nico (Jackson) played last time in the Premier League and scored two goals, Christopher played the other day and scored three, this is good. It's important they compete with each other."

A win for Chelsea would be a third in succession in the league, having beaten Bournemouth and West Ham, and fourth in all competitions.

Marc Cucurella has started all five of Chelsea's league matches this season as he finally starts to justify the £62 million ($83 million) fee the Blues paid to Brighton in 2022.

The versatile Spaniard, who helped his country win Euro 2024, has impressed in both defence and attack under Maresca after struggling to find his form in the previous two seasons.

"Marc is very important, he has something which sometimes you struggle to find in players," he said.

"Marc is good and he's making the players around him better because he's a guy who's talking, demanding and when you have five or six players like Marc in the team, it's something important and I'm very happy with him."

(F.Jackson--TAG)