Enzo Maresca's feud with Fabian Hurzeler: Chelsea boss refuses to compliment Brighton counterpart as new rivalry heats up

Maresca is set to lead his Chelsea side to Amex Stadium for the second time in seven days as the Blues look to take revenge for their 2-1 loss at the hands of Brighton in the FA Cup with a Premier League win. However, the Italian has sparked a potential feud with Brighton boss Huezeler as he refused to compliment the German coach but laid a lot of praise on his Seagulls predecessor Roberto De Zerbi, who was also Maresca's former teammate.

When questioned about Hurzeler, Maresca said: “I prefer not to say anything about their manager."

When asked if he wasn't impressed by Hurzeler, Maresca added: "It’s not that I’m not impressed. First of all, I think the previous Brighton manager is a top manager, not because he’s a friend of mine. But I think he’s a top manager. And that’s it.

"Do we have a problem? No, no problem at all."

At the end of the conference, when asked whether or not he thinks Hurzeler is a top coach, Maresca said: "Thank you very much”

Chelsea and Brighton have a lot of animosity due to the Blues' tendency to buy the Seagulls' stars over the last few years. As such, Hurzeler said that the 'tension' is expected.

Hurzeler said: "I think the tension is there. You can feel it in the stadium because a lot who played for Brighton in the past play now for Chelsea, so you can feel that the crowd is not happy about that.

"I like that we have this tension because it shows that we are ready to fight against them, you are ready to fight against a big opponent. You need to have the right attitude towards games like this, you need to have the right mindset. I love it when it’s a little bit emotional. It’s very important to stay calm in the right moments, to make the right decisions to not get too emotional.

"Because then you lose the cool head, you lose the faze of making the right decisions, so therefore I think it’s very important to have the mix. But if we can get the energy out of this rivalry, out of these tensions, then we can use it as an advantage."

The Italian now has the job of leading Chelsea against Hurzeler's Brighton for the second straight game as the two sides face off in the Premier League on Friday, February 14.