ESPN
Jan 31, 2025, 06:29 AM ET
Enzo Maresca has said that Chelsea's form has been affected by transfer speculation, claiming some of his players may not have been fully focused in recent weeks.
Since beating Brentford on Dec. 15 -- their fifth Premier League victory in a row -- Chelsea have only won one of seven league games to fall off their title-challenging pace.
Their latest defeat came at Manchester City last Saturday, with the 3-1 loss leaving the west London club sixth in the table.
The drop in form has coincided with the January transfer window and asked if that had played a part, Maresca said: "100%. 100% for me. But not only us, all the teams, because in the end [the players] are human beings.
"Even if they are say, 'no, I'm professional, I'm focused on this,' if they are talking about you and different clubs then the focus is not 100%. This can be something [to explain drop in form]."
Maresca also highlighted losing Wesley Fofana to injury, with the defender potentially out until the end of the season.
"The other one I think is probably losing Wes," the Chelsea boss added. "Since we start he has been a key player, but that has also happened in other teams like City and Arsenal.
"So these could be reasons why [the form] is different, but the good thing is that we still play a good game, we still create chances, the big difference for me has been inside the box."
So far, Chelsea have lost Renato Veiga on loan to Juventus in January but Joao Felix and Ben Chilwell are linked with moves before Monday's deadline.
Chelsea face West Ham United on that day, and Maresca admitted goalkeeper Robert Sánchez -- following another error against City -- could lose his position to summer signing Filip Jørgensen.
Asked if he made a decision on who would start, Maresca said: "Not yet, not yet. The decision... we have two or three days.
"Any decision I take, I feel good. Filip or Robert, we see. Any decision will be okay."
