Enzo Maresca told he has ‘problem’ with two Chelsea signings | Football

Shaun Wright-Phillips says Chelsea’s talented but bloated squad is making a ‘problem’ for 2 of Enzo Maresca’s summer signings.

Chelsea spent one other £300m on recent signings last summer to bolster a squad that had just qualified for the Champions League and won the Conference League.

Joao Pedro was Chelsea’s costliest signing at £60m however the Blues paid not less than £30m on one other five players.

Three of those additions – Estevao Willian, Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens – were wingers and bolstered Chelsea’s already-stacked group in that position.

While Estevao is already looking like a future superstar, Garnacho and Gittens have endured underwhelming starts to their careers at Stamford Bridge.

Garnacho has scored twice since his £40m move from Manchester United and £52m signing Gittens only once – his only goal coming within the Carabao Cup.

Wright-Phillips – one other winger who had a successful spell at Chelsea – says it is just too early to brand the Garnacho signing a ‘mistake’ but says each his and Gittens’ struggles have gotten a ‘problem’ for Maresca.

‘I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a mistake to sign Garnacho, because he’s clearly a superb player,’ Wright-Phillips told Best Betting Sites.

‘I feel Chelsea’s problem is that they’ve about seven or eight wingers now. They’re all adequate to get into other Premier League sides, but they need minutes on the pitch.

‘They need games. I do not forget that I used to be at all times higher if I used to be playing more repeatedly. I just grew into every occasion.

‘I feel a few of those wingers, it could possibly be similar. They should be on the pitch repeatedly to be at their best. I feel Jamie Gittens looks as if one in all those players who needs their confidence high, and he works off his instincts.

‘Those sorts of players must play repeatedly. At this Chelsea squad now, that probability doesn’t really occur, so that they have to seek out a method to keep these players ready irrespective of how much or how little they’re playing.

‘Since the just one on the minute I might say that is definitely thriving is Pedro Neto. And he’s repeatedly playing and he’s mainly hard to drop.’

Despite a variety of players potentially growing frustrated with their lack of minutes, Chelsea have enjoyed a promising first-half to the season.

The Blues are second within the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s London derby against leaders Arsenal and seventh within the Champions League following an enormous victory over Barcelona.

Wright-Phillips believes the pressure is on Arsenal as they visit Stamford Bridge this weekend but insists they’re still ‘favourites’ to beat Chelsea.

‘I’d say Arsenal are the team most under pressure,’ the ex-England star added. ‘They know they’re top, they usually’ve got a chasing pack ready for them to make mistakes.

‘They know they should keep winning and that pressure is on them. They don’t wish to let that gap get chipped away at.

‘If anything, they might be aiming to construct the cushion going into the Christmas period, where the games come thick and fast and teams can stumble.

‘But for Chelsea, it’s almost an announcement match. A win there, and they’ll imagine that they’re real challengers for the title.

‘They may play it down, but a win there puts them in an important position to choose Arsenal off, and it can be an enormous boost for his or her confidence.

‘In the event you can beat this Arsenal team – scoring loads, defending brilliantly – then you definitely can beat anyone.

‘Having said that, I feel Arsenal are the favourites. They’ve only conceded a handful within the Premier League and at times they only look unbreakable.

‘The way in which they defend, how quickly they get well into their position off the ball, it’s just frightening. That’s even once they’re missing Gabriel.

‘I watched them within the derby on the weekend, and Spurs barely laid a glove on them, couldn’t really hurt them. Arsenal handled whatever got here their way they usually’ve done that in almost every game this season.’

Neto earned Chelsea a 1-1 draw against Arsenal on this fixture last season after Gabriel Martinelli’s opening goal for the visitors.

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