Enzo Maresca reiterated his view that Chelsea are not involved in the title race as those hopes took a huge blow with Monday's loss to struggling Ipswich Town.
Chelsea were punished for a loose display as Kieran McKenna's side scored in both halves through Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson to secure a 2-0 win at Portman Road.
The defeat meant Chelsea lost consecutive Premier League games for the first time since February, losing even more ground on runaway leaders Liverpool.
A gap of ten points now separates the team of Arne Slot, who still has a game in hand, and Chelsea, who are in fourth place. But Maresca insists his team is taking things one game at a time.
“We are concentrating from game to game. We are not focused on the title race or things like that,” the Chelsea boss told BBC Sport.
“We made four changes from the last game because they all deserve to play. Now that we have completed the first part of the season, no one expected us to be where we are today.
“We are in a good position, but we can do many things better. It is a long race.”
Joao Felix saw what would have been a first-half equalizer ruled out by VAR for offside, while Cole Palmer hit the woodwork twice in the first half.
Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea
Ipswich picked up a valuable Premier League win in their final game of 2024 as they beat Chelsea 2-0. They finally won a home game at the tenth attempt in the 2024/25 Premier League season.
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) December 30, 2024
Chelsea scored a total of 20 shots at Christian Walton's goal, the most attempts without scoring in an away match in the Premier League since December 2017 (25 against Everton).
However, Maresca refused to blame his attacking players for their mistake.
“We had chances with Joao and Noni [Madeuek] So it's not about the striker,” the Italian added. “Sometimes you create chances and things don't go for you.
“It was a strange game because we created a lot of chances and we could have scored a lot of them, but they saved goals on the line or had great saves from the goalkeeper.
“We could do a lot of things better, defend better at times.”
Chelsea could not cope with Delap, whose four shots on target, five attempts on goal and three fouls won were all leading figures in an imperious display from the 21-year-old.
Delap scored and assisted for the second time this season in the Premier League, becoming the second Ipswich player to do so more than once in a single season, after Finidi George in 2001–02 (also twice).
Hutchinson, who came back to haunt his former employers with a well-taken finish, was full of praise for his teammate after a driving run created space for Ipswich's second goal.
“He's a unit,” Hutchinson said. “Complete package, but he is still discovering himself and still learning and trying to become a top player, so he is a good striker to play with.”
Speaking about his first top-flight win over Chelsea since 1993, the Ipswich winger added: “It's good to make history and finally get the first home win.
“I'm grateful for what Chelsea have done in my career and given me my debut, but I'm playing for Ipswich now and I want to score and help my team get three points and help us stay at the top.”
#IPSCHE pic.twitter.com/eerVdEgvdR
— IPSWICH TOWN (@IpswichTown) December 30, 2024
Star man Delap's message was simple: he asked for more of the same from his fellow Ipswich strikers.
“We have to show courage and determination to win three points and everyone did that,” he told Sky Sports.
“Not much changes. We have performed well, but haven't gotten the results yet, so we just need to get some wins.”
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