Maresca denies Chelsea have ‘discipline problem’ and confirms defensive shortage for Liverpool clash

Enzo Maresca says he does not think Chelsea have a discipline problem despite their red card record of late.

The Blues had players sent off against Manchester United, Brighton and against Benfica on Tuesday.

Red cards for Robert Sanchez and Trevoh Chalobah against United and Brighton respectively proved costly, with Chelsea losing both matches.

Maresca’s side came out on top against Benfica , despite Joao Pedro being sent off late on after receiving a second yellow.

But the Chelsea boss insists his side do not have a discipline problem.

“You have to analyse case for case. When it’s a red card for bad intention or for bad discipline, it’s different compared to my United red card or Brighton red card,” he said.

“In that case, it’s just the decision that you have to take in two seconds, three seconds. Do I do foul or not? It’s difficult. So we analyse case for case. Again, I don’t see any discipline problem, even if we consider injury for a red card. That is not something normal. But again, it’s for different reasons.”

Chelsea face a shortage in central defence as they look to get back to winning ways in the Premier League against reigning champions Liverpool.

Chalobah is suspended after being sent off against Brighton while Wesley Fofana and Tosin look set to miss out again along with long-term absentee Levi Colwill.

But Maresca has suggested youngster Josh Acheampong could be the answer.

“I think it’s a fact that I really trust the young players,” he said.

“Not just the young players that we buy, but also the young players from the academy. Again, we gave games last year to Josh Acheampong, having players on the bench, senior players. So that shows that I trust young players.

“The same thing happened with Ty [George]. So I really trust all the players we have. As you said, in this moment we have four or five defenders out. But we’re going to try to adapt and find the right solution for tomorrow.”