Maresca will not care in the slightest who gets the goals in his team’s final seven Premier League games, as long as they arrive with frequency and volume. But if Cucurella is still Chelsea’s top league goalscorer of 2025 come the end of May, the club is highly unlikely to be returning to Europe’s elite club competition next season.

Enzo Maresca insisted Chelsea's "unfair" schedule forced him to drop out-of-form forward Cole Palmer for Sunday's 0-0 draw at Brentford."Was the scheduling unfair?