The Blues are yet to taste victory in the Premier League or the Champions League this month, but Maresca is confident of arresting that run when we meet Benfica at Stamford Bridge tomorrow evening.

Red cards in each of our last two league games have clearly played a major role in the outcome. Speaking at his media conference earlier today, Maresca was honest enough to admit he could have reacted differently when we were down to ten men, but the head coach also pointed to those extenuating circumstances that have contributed to the majority of our defeats since mid-March.

‘In this moment we need to be positive first of all because it's what the players need,’ said Maresca.

‘Second because there is no reason to be negative this morning. The club showed me the stats that in the last six months we have lost five games, four of them with a red card: Newcastle, Flamengo, Man United and Brighton. And the only game that we lost 11-versus-11 was Bayern Munich away.

‘After reviewing the last two games, Man Utd and Brighton with ten players, for sure I could have done better in terms of [my] decisions. No doubt, but also for me it's like a learning process to play with ten players because for any manager it's not something normal. Unfortunately for us it happened two times.

‘So that's why I said there is not any reason that we need to panic knowing that football is a crazy world. If you lost five games in six months and you need to say things to defend yourself, that means that it's a crazy world. So I don't think we need to defend ourselves in this moment because the reality is that I have a very good feeling with the squad we have.’

Maresca expanded on that belief as he considered the progress he and his players have made since he took charge of Chelsea in July 2024. The head coach is confident we are in better shape now.

‘Compared to last season we have all improved,' he said. 'The players because they can play games, they can have more experience. Me personally as a manager, I feel better than last year. The reason why is because I'm learning.

‘For sure there are many, many things that I need to learn. For instance playing with ten players is something that probably I need to do better. But it's part of the process and I don't have any doubt that in the future we're going to be better and better.’