'Crazy world!' - Enzo Maresca claims he shouldn't need to defend himself amid Chelsea sack rumours

Chelsea saw a major dip in form after going down against three of their last five opponents across all competitions and they have also suffered back-to-back losses against United and Brighton in the Premier League, where they also saw Robert Sanchez and Trevoh Chalobah sent off, respectively. The series of poor results has put the manager's position under scrutiny, however, The Telegraph claims that the Blues have no plans to make a mid-season managerial change, with Maresca retaining the full backing of the board.

Speaking to reporters, the Blues head coach said: "I think there is no reason to be negative. The club showed me the stats that in the last six months we lost five games, four of them with a red card (against Brighton, Manchester United, Newcastle and Flamengo). The only game that we lost 11-11 was Bayern Munich away. So that’s why I said for me personally there is not any reason that we need to panic knowing that football is a crazy world.

"For sure we like winning games. But also the reality is that there is not any pressure. The pressure we have is the pressure that we know that being at Chelsea as a player, as a manager you need to win games. But at the same moment the reality is that for different reasons, injuries and red cards, we lost five games in almost six months. At the same time I think it’s something not bad."

Maresca added: "After reviewing the last two games, Manchester United and Brighton with 10 players, for sure I could have done better probably in terms of (my) decisions. For me it’s like a learning process to play with 10 players because I think for any manager it’s not something normal."

Chelsea will now prepare to face Jose Mourinho's Benfica next in the Champions League, however, Maresca could miss the services of some key players like Joao Pedro, Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos as all three players picked up knocks against the Seagulls.