Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca expressed frustration that his team’s wastefulness in front of goal has left Champions League qualification in the balance.
The Blues have struggled at times to convert chances and though they go into Sunday’s crunch meeting with Newcastle with their fate in their own hands, a top-five finish is far from assured.
Maresca has seen his side suffer a number of potentially costly slips this season, including dropping five points to relegated Ipswich and being the only team so far to lose at Portman Road, as well as a run of two wins from 10 between December and February during which they scored just 11 times.
Chelsea are locked together on 63 points with fourth-placed Newcastle and the pair are favourites to wrap up two of the remaining Champions League places.
However, both know a stumble could allow in Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa who are a point and three points behind respectively.
“The frustration is that we’ve had many games where we’ve created enough chances to win the game and we didn’t win,” said Maresca reflecting on his team’s position.
“But now is not the moment to think about that. Now is the moment to win as much as we can in these last three games.”
Chelsea have welcomed Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer back to goal-scoring form in recent weeks as both ended long droughts.
Jackson hit the winner against Everton in April before adding two more in the Conference League semi-final against Djurgarden, while Palmer scored for the first time since January in the win over Liverpool.
“In terms of data, if you see xG, chances missed, I think we could have some more points,” said Maresca. “But it is what it is and we need to win the games that we have.”
The Italian warned his team against focusing exclusively on the threat posed by striker Alexander Isak.
The Sweden international has scored 23 goals in 32 Premier League games this season and has been a key reason behind Newcastle’s charge up the table since December.
“Isak is a top player but it’s not enough (to stop just him),” said Maresca. “They have more players. So we need to work as a team and we need to stop them as a team.”
