Chelsea: Enzo Maresca sparks Fabian Hurzeler tension with bizarre answer before Brighton clash | OneFootball

Maresca on Friday takes Chelsea to the Amex for the second time in a week

Enzo Maresca has stoked tensions ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Brighton on Friday night with a bizarre series of answers about Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler.

Maresca takes his Chelsea side to the Amex for the second time in a week, with the Blues looking to avenge their FA Cup fourth-round defeat as the sides meet again in the Premier League.

Both Maresca and Hurzeler were appointed by their respective clubs last summer, with the latter becoming the youngest manager in Premier League history at just 31.

When asked, however, what he had made of his counterpart’s debut season, the Italian declined to comment.

Maresca’s Chelsea are looking to avenge their FA Cup fourth-round defeat against Brighton last weekend

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

“I prefer not to say anything about their manager,” he said.

Later, when pressed on whether he had not been impressed by Hurzeler’s work on the south coast, Maresca instead paid homage to former Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi.

Maresca’s countryman left Brighton at the end of last season, after almost two years in charge, and was linked with the Chelsea job before taking up his current post at Marseille.

“It’s not that I’m not impressed [with Hurzeler],” Maresca said. “First of all, I think the previous Brighton manager is a top manager, not because he’s a friend of mine, but I think he’s a top manager. And that’s it, yeah.”

Finally, when asked at the end of his press conference whether he also considered Hurzeler a “top manager”, Maresca simply smiled and said: “Thank you very much.”

Chelsea and Brighton have met twice already this season, with the Blues winning 4-2 in the league at Stamford Bridge in September, before their 2-1 loss in the FA Cup last weekend.

Maresca denied that there had been any issue with Hurzeler stemming from that game and the source of what appears to be tensions between the two coaches remains a mystery.

Hurzeler has, however, emerged as a notably abrasive figure during his first season in English football and in November, he was involved in a fiery altercation with Russell Martin, the then Southampton boss, who accused his rival of a lack of respect following the two clubs’ 1-1 draw.

The German has been carded five times by referees over his touchline behaviour, the most of any top-flight boss this term. Neatly, De Zerbi holds the record for the most bookings in one Premier League season with six, in 2022-23.