As has so often been the case in this season's Conference League, Maresca's second Chelsea XI enjoyed a largely stress-free afternoon on Saturday, when Morecambe rocked up to their West London home and left on the receiving end of a 5-0 slaughter.

Long-range goals were the order of the day at Stamford Bridge, as Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix both struck braces alongside a customary cup strike from Christopher Nkunku, who had earlier given the visiting crowd their highlight of the day when his penalty was saved by Harry Burgoyne.

That missed spot kick was a minor dose of disappointment for Chelsea, but Maresca's men have experienced a handful of major setbacks in the top flight of late, perhaps proving their manager right when he said that the Blues were not genuine title contenders.

Indeed, Chelsea have only accrued two points from a possible 12 in their last four top-flight games, most recently having to settle for a 1-1 draw at London rivals Crystal Palace, leaving them 10 points adrift of leaders Liverpool having played a game more than the Reds.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

就像本赛季的联盟联赛中经常出现的情况一样，马雷斯卡的第二支切尔西11人队在周六的下午享受了一个基本上没有压力的下午，当莫克姆队在西伦敦的主场以5:0的比分离开时。

远射是今天斯坦福桥比赛的主题，阿塔拉比约和菲利克斯都打进了两粒进球，克里斯托弗·恩昆库也打进了一粒常规赛的进球。早些时候，恩昆库的点球被哈里·伯戈因扑出，给客队带来了今天最精彩的比赛。

那个错失的点球对切尔西来说是一个小小的失望，但马雷斯卡的球员最近在顶级联赛中经历了一些重大挫折，也许证明了他们的教练说蓝军不是真正的冠军争夺者是正确的。

事实上，切尔西在最近的四场顶级联赛中只从12场比赛中获得了2分，最近的一场比赛是1-1战平伦敦对手水晶宫，比红军多踢了一场比赛，落后领头羊利物浦10分。