Comparing Enzo Maresca’s first 19 PL games at Chelsea with Pochettino’s last 19

Nestor Watach • 04 Jan 2025

Chelsea surprisingly have a better record in Mauricio Pochettino’s last 19 Premier League matches in charge than in Enzo Maresca’s first 19 at the club.

After just one season at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino left Chelsea by mutual consent in the summer.

The Argentinian coach had led the Blues to an underwhelming sixth-place finish, but they were pipped to Europa League qualification by FA Cup winners Manchester United and dropped into the UEFA Conference League as a result.

“Thank you to the Chelsea ownership group and Sporting Directors for the opportunity to be part of this football club’s history,” Pochettino responded in a statement, before going on to take up the post of the United States national team.

“The Club is now well positioned to keep moving forward in the Premier League and Europe in the years to come.”

Sure enough, Chelsea have continued on their positive upwards trajectory under Pochettino’s successor Maresca.

Back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Ipswich ended 2024 on a bum note and have kiboshed any tentative talk of a title tilt, but they still look a comfortable bet to finish in the top four and return to the Champions League next season.

However, Chelsea actually posted a comfortably top-four record in the latter half of last season under Pochettino. They quietly recovered from a poor start to climb up the table, but the damage had already been done in terms of any realistic chance of qualifying for the Champions League.

Pochettino’s Blues only lost three matches in the latter half of last season, although they were all fairly costly to the coach’s standing in the eyes of the Chelsea faithful – 4-1 against Liverpool, 4-2 against Wolves and 5-0 against Liverpool.

Under Maresca, Chelsea have actually lost one more game and picked up three fewer points in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign than they did in the second half of last season.

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Here’s how the stats match up: