Chelsea

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Thank you for joining us on today's football news live. We focused on Enzo Maresca's media conference - we will have full text coverage of their League Cup quarter-final at Cardiff City tomorrow night.

There was only one question anyone wanted an answer to, but Maresca refused to elaborate on his cryptic "worst 48 hours" comment.

Here is a recap of the top lines from the Chelsea manager's news conference:

• "I already spoke about that and I don't have anything to add. It is Cardiff tomorrow please," he said when asked about his remarks.
• He was repeatedly asked the same question by different journalists before snapping: "I can try in Italian, Spanish, French so you are all aware."
• Cole Palmer is happy at Chelsea, according to Maresca, but the England forward will not play against Cardiff as he continues his recovery from injury.
• Maresca said that Palmer was "one of the players that deserve to be protected", and added that he would "make some changes" to his starting XI.
• On facing League One leaders Cardiff, the Chelsea boss said it was a "dangerous game, a tricky game, so we need to have attention".
• He added that Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy, who he worked with at Manchester City, was "doing a great job, playing nice football and winning games".

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Callum Robinson has spent most of this season on the bench for Cardiff City. On Tuesday, Chelsea will hope he stays there.

The Republic of Ireland forward has a remarkable record against Chelsea, scoring five goals in three Premier League games against the former Champions League winners.

"Not many players score that many goals against a team like Chelsea over the years so it's stuck with me quite a bit throughout my career," said Robinson, 30.

"When we got them in the quarters, I was obviously going to put a little bit out there [on social media] for a bit of banter, but I didn't know I was in people's heads that much, to be fair.

"I thought they [Chelsea fans] would have forgotten about me a long time ago but, yeah, it's a good part of football."

Cardiff City

Sitting four points clear at the top of League One, Cardiff City are, so far, on course to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.

It’s five straight wins for the Bluebirds in the league and Saturday’s dramatic 4-3 victory over Doncaster means they’ll remain at the top of the tree for Christmas.

After exits in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy, the League Cup remains the only cup competition they’re involved in.

This is how they’ve made it to the quarter-finals:

• Cardiff 2-1 Swindon - Round One
• Cardiff 3-0 Cheltenham - Round Two
• Burnley 1-2 Cardiff - Round Three
• Wrexham 1-2 Cardiff - Last 16

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the expectations at Chelsea: "When you are Chelsea manager, you understand that the expectations are higher. Especially probably this season they are raised a bit compared to last season, probably because of the Club World Cup, Conference League, we finished fourth in the Premier League with the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League so probably this season the expectation is raised a little bit."

"It is something normal when you are Chelsea player or manager."

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales

Cardiff City’s EFL Cup quarter-final against Chelsea will be a reunion for two head coaches who worked under Pep Guardiola.

Cardiff boss Barry-Murphy succeeded his now Chelsea counterpart Enzo Maresca as manager of the Manchester City Elite Development Squad in 2021, with the Italian re-joining the club as Guardiola’s assistant coach a year later.

“He's always been there for me and his staff, my admiration for him and his staff is obvious,” Barry-Murphy said of Maresca.

“But when the game comes around, you have to be able to also compete against a club like Chelsea and understand that ourselves, we're a very, very big club with a huge support base and trying to give those fans something to feel exhilarated by tomorrow.

“I think he's the coach of the highest calibre, and he's proven that in the short time he's been there. He's obviously taken lessons in the Premier League and now done an incredible job with Chelsea.”

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he will rotate his squad for the Cardiff City tie: "We are going to make some changes. We will see how many, but for sure we have players that in the last 12, 13 days they have played five games so they need to recover some energy."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the importance of building on the club's trophy success last season, when they won the Conference League and Club World Cup: "It is something we want to achieve [winning the EFL Cup] also for the fans. It's a club that in all its history, especially the recent history, we win the Premier League, Champions League, these kinds of trophies. So that's why we need to try to do our best tomorrow and again try to achieve a third [EFL Cup] semi-final [in 18 months]."

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on being tagged as favourites: "These are the worst games. Football is full of these kinds of games where the favourite one, they can lose. That's why we need to pay attention, that's why the focus has to be on Cardiff."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was also keen to stress how dangerous an opponent League One leaders Cardiff City are: "We need to move forward because tomorrow we have Cardiff. A dangerous game, a tricky game, so we need to have attention."

And he stressed that, despite his previous comments, he is enjoying this season: "Absolutely, it's fantastic. I said also last week, no matter if we win or we lose, whether we are in a good moment or a bad moment, it's a fantastic opportunity because you can learn always. I love to learn and I am very happy with that."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca confirmed Cole Palmer won't play against Cardiff: "Cole is one of the players that deserves to be protected and he is not in this moment available to play two games in three days."

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphywho he worked with at Manchester City: "He is doing a great job. They are top of the league, they are playing nice football and winning games. We need to pay attention and we need to be careful because again, we can achieve something important. That is the third semi-final in 18 months."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca started to show signs of losing his temper after repeatedly being asked whether he felt it was the right time to make his comments, after the Everton win, about his "worst 48 hours":

"I can speak Italian, which is my language, French very well, Spanish very well and English more or less. But I think when I want to say something I am quite clear.

"I already spoke after the game, I don't need to add more.

"If you want, I can try in Italian, Spanish, French so you are all aware. It's done, it's finished. It was after the game. I said after the game, now it's focus on Cardiff and [reaching] a third semi-final [in the EFL Cup] in 18 months."

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was pressed on whether Chelsea supporters deserve an explanation, he said: "I said after the game that I love [the] Chelsea support. They deserve the best and again I have nothing to add."

On whether he is happy as Chelsea head coach: "Absolutely yes."

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca on the comments he made on Saturday: "I already spoke about that and I don't have nothing to add. It's Cardiff tomorrow, please. I already spoke about that and I think I was quite clear. No more than that."

More from Maresca: "I respect your opinion and I respect people's opinion but again I have nothing to add. My focus is on tomorrow's game and that we can achieve the third semi-final in 18 months since I joined the club."

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales

There is a palpable sense of positivity around Cardiff City this season, four points clear at the top of League One and playing attractive football with a team packed full of local young players.

That joy is at odds with the misery of recent years, with last season’s relegation from the Championship following several campaigns of dismal underachievement.

Now the Bluebirds have a chance to test themselves against Club World Cup champions Chelsea in tomorrow night’s EFL Cup quarter-final.

“I think the anticipation for the game since the draw was made has been evident everywhere we've been,” said Cardiff head coach Brian Barry-Murphy.

“Luckily, we've tried to detach ourselves from that as much as possible while focusing on the league campaign.

“But now that it's here, I think the build-up to the game is going to be incredibly exciting for everyone.

“I think for the players and myself, we still want to show ourselves in the best light and give a good account of ourselves and compete against the team who are the Club World Cup champions.”

Image source, Getty Images

Cardiff City's last win over Chelsea came in the League Cup third round in October 1986.

Defender Nick Platnauer scored a second-half double to cancel out Keith Jones' penalty as the Bluebirds won 2-1 at Ninian Park.

There was to be no dream cup run for Cardiff though - they went on to be knocked out by Shrewsbury Town in the next round.

Chelsea have since won all five of their matches against Cardiff.

They beat them 4-1 in the fifth round of the 2009-10 FA Cup, on their way to lifting the trophy.

And claimed victories in all four of their matches in the Premier League - in 2013-14 and 2018-19.