There will be an interesting battle in the manager’s dugout on Monday night when Chelsea hosts West Ham at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea play at home against London rivals West Ham in a few days time in the Premier League, which is a fixture with so many different subplots.
For West Ham boss Graham Potter, he’ll return in the opposition dugout for the first time since he was sacked by Chelsea in 2023. The 49-year-old English coach will only be taking charge of his fifth match since he was appointed the Hammers head coach earlier in January.
Meanwhile, Enzo Maresca, 44, is currently in the role as the Chelsea manager. He could desperately do with a positive result versus West Ham because the Blues have just one win from their last seven league games, which has resulted in them dropping to sixth in the division table.
John Obi Mikel insists Chelsea need to learn to kill games because they’re failing to capitalise when they go ahead in lots of matches recently.
Graham Potter explains how Enzo Maresca has impressed at Chelsea
Potter is super impressed by the impact of counterpart Maresca ahead of West Ham’s trip to Chelsea. In particular, he’s identified the tactical influence of the Italian coach as a big contributor to the team’s improvement this season.
“You’ve got a tactically very well prepared team, and I think Enzo [Maresca] has done a great job with that,” Potter said via West Ham’s official YouTube channel.
“I think they’ve done a really good job as a club in terms of stabilising the squad and rejuvenating the squad. They’ve got a lot of talent. They build in different ways depending on the opponent, depending on how they want to attack, but everything is clear, and everything makes sense.
“It’s a tough game, of course it is. They’re competing to go in the Champions League, and obviously at home they’ll want to take the three points…”
Maresca recently showed his inexperience during Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City, but there has been a general upturn so far under him. It’s so vital that the team builds some momentum again because they don’t want to undo all the good work from the first half of the season.
It feels like a must-win game against 14th-placed West Ham on Monday night.
Graham Potter vs Enzo Maresca at Chelsea
Unfortunately, Chelsea was a bit of a circus during Potter’s reign at the club, which lasted less than seven months. He’s still an excellent coach, and it won’t be surprising if he does well in charge of West Ham.
In contrast, Maresca has managed to calm down the exterior noise since he became the Chelsea head coach in the summer. His next challenge is to lift his team from their current dip in form.
Here is a look at how the records of the two managers compare at Stamford Bridge:
It feels like Maresca is the right man in the job right now, especially in charge of this young group, but fans are desperate to see some better in-game decisions to help swings games in their favour.
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