Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca's demand to players to prove they are Premier League contenders

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Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has called on his players to buck their trend of disappointing Decembers to show they CAN compete for the Premier League title this season.

The Blues sit third after 13 matches - six points shy of league leaders Arsenal - after holding the Gunners to a draw on Sunday . That point came at a price, though, with Moises Caicedo sent off in the first half of the derby. The Ecuador midfielder will miss the next three games through suspension, and the Blues' results without their record signing haven't been the best.

Chelsea suffered back-to-back league defeats just twice last season, with the first of those instances coming in December. They also lost three of their four away league games in December 2023, and Maresca is well aware of recent trends.

“Because I was here last year, even if the first game we lost was [on December] the 26th, against Fulham at home, but after that we started to drop some points," the Italian said. The Blues also lost their next game, away to Ipswich, as part of a five-game winless run which saw them fall from second to fifth.

“Not only for Chelsea, it’s complicated for any team, especially for those in European competition, playing every three days," he added. "But the teams that are able to be consistent in this December to January [period] are the teams that, by February and March, are going to be there for the title.”

It isn't just under Maresca and predecessor Mauricio Pochettino that the Blues have struggled in December. Thomas Tuchel won just three of seven games in 2021 to see the Blues' title hopes fade, while a return of seven points from six league games in December 2020 helped accelerate Frank Lampard's departure.

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Caicedo's absence provides an issue of its own. Chelsea have won just two of the six league matches he hasn't started since joining from Brighton , both this season against strugglers Nottingham Forest and Burnley , while drawing one and losing three.

"We are a better team with Moises, but when he is not available we have to find a solution, we have to do something different," Maresca said on Tuesday. With £53m midfielder Romeo Lavia also still absent through injury, Reece James could continue in the middle after moving forward from right-back for the Arsenal game.

"He can play in both positions, he has been a full back all his life and has also been a midfielder. He can be good in both positions," the manager said. "When we play him in midfield, it is when we want physicality in the midfield. It is about the game plan."

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