How Chelsea’s worried owners cranked up the pressure on boss Enzo Maresca after another ill-tempered defeat by Brighton

The Chelsea hierarchy led by co-owner Behdad Eghbali made their way to the changing room after full-time with Enzo Maresca telling his players they are giving away ‘presents’ in Premier League matches following yet another self-inflicted surrender.

Maresca took nearly an hour to come to his press conference after losing to Brighton, with his side reduced to 10 men for the second successive weekend. 

They likewise suffered a sending-off at Old Trafford before being beaten 2-1 by Manchester United.

Eghbali, along with sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, plus recruitment specialists Joe Shields and Sam Jewell, spoke with Maresca in private after this defeat.

Maresca said afterwards: ‘The message that we just said inside has been quite clear: against any team in the Premier League, you cannot continue to give away presents, because what we are doing in this moment is giving away presents in terms of red cards.

‘That is a big mistake because the game completely changed. They (the hierarchy) have been inside the changing room like always. 

The Chelsea hierarchy led by co-owner Behdad Eghbali (pictured above) made their way to the changing room after full-time to discuss the disappointing defeat with the Blues boss

‘We have an office inside the changing room where, after every game, we sit and talk about the game, but they didn’t say nothing to the players. It was nothing, completely different compared to the rest of the team.’

Trevoh Chalobah’s red card, shown by referee Simon Hooper after a visit to his pitch-side monitor, changed the complexion of this match. 

Chelsea were leading at the time but went on to lose with Maresca adding: ‘We were in control of the game. We had so many shots in the first half, 70 per cent possession, everything was fine. Then suddenly, because of our mistake, with the red card again, the plan completely changed.’