Enzo Maresca made huge tactical error by picking Chelsea star against Fulham | OneFootball

Chelsea suffered a disheartening 2-1 defeat against Fulham on Boxing Day, effectively destroying their hopes of beating Liverpool to the Premier League title.

Blues manager Enzo Maresca has repeatedly asserted that his young squad is not ready to compete for England’s holy grail.

Many people believed it was merely a ploy to avoid piling the pressure on himself and his players, but after Thursday’s defeat, he may have a point.

Chelsea took the lead inside the opening 20 minutes when Cole Palmer went on a mesmerising run before slotting home his 12th Premier League goal past Bernd Leno.

The Blues controlled much of the proceedings but failed to establish a two-goal cushion that could have taken the game away from their London rivals, and they were made to pay for it.

Marco Silva made a couple of tweaks late in the second half, encouraging his team to take the game to Chelsea, and it paid off.

Harry Wilson headed home from point-blank range before Rodrigo Muniz capped a sweeping counter-attack with an effort that left Robert Sanchez rooted to the spot.

For over 70 minutes, Chelsea were in control of their own fate until Maresca’s only substitution undid all of his good work earlier in the game.

Maresca should have deployed Felix ahead of Nkunku

Maresca made his customary striker switch around the 70-minute mark, taking off Nicolas Jackson for Christopher Nkunku.

That move hasn’t yielded any positive fruit for Chelsea in recent games, yet the Italian persists with the routine switch, and it came back to haunt him this time.

Jackson has been in fine form for Chelsea this season. Even when he doesn’t get on the score sheet, his importance to Maresca’s system is crystal clear.

The Senegalese striker is adept at dropping deep to link up play, has the technical ability to take on defenders, and is a huge asset in Chelsea’s press regardless of the time on the clock.

He can stretch the opposition’s defence and is the first line of derailing their build-up play, which often leads to turnovers in the middle of the pitch.

Nkunku has a completely different profile. The Frenchman is not an out-and-out striker and prefers getting the ball to his feet, which means he rarely runs the channels.

His reluctance to press has also been a major issue. Despite coming on with lungs to burn, he barely puts pressure on the opposition defenders, giving them too much time on the ball, which often evolves into a big chance.

His lack of fight was a huge reason Fulham built momentum, and Maresca may have been better off leaving Jackson on for 90 minutes or taking a chance on Joao Felix in that role.

The manager has reiterated that Felix struggles for playing time because of the untouchable Cole Palmer, and isn’t deployed on the wing for tactical reasons.

While the Portuguese forward is far from the messiah Chelsea needs, he offers a lot more than Nkunku in the forward areas, especially when pressing.

It would be silly to assume Chelsea may have come away with a result if Felix was given the nod ahead of Nkunku.

But with the wheels coming off after the £52 million star’s introduction, it’s hard to look past his off-the-ball contributions – or lack thereof – as a major reason for Chelsea’s late capitulation.