Enzo Maresca’s lack of experience is starting to show at Chelsea… Unai Emery taught him a lesson at Villa Park, writes TOM COLLOMOSSE

As the stakes for Chelsea and Aston Villa rise by the week, Unai Emery’s course and distance knowledge is starting to look vital as the spotlight shines ever more harshly on Enzo Maresca.

The Premier League’s top eight is full of experience. According to respected website Transfermarkt Emery leads the way, with Saturday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea his 1,002nd senior fixture as a coach.

Pep Guardiola has overseen 922 games, Eddie Howe 702, Nuno Espirito Santo 514. Then there is a gap to Andoni Iraola on 288, Mikel Arteta on 271 and Arne Slot on 248.

The outlier is Chelsea boss Maresca. The late defeat at Villa Park was the Italian’s 105th match and only 38 of those have been with a top-flight club. When Champions League qualification is on the line and Chelsea have won only twice in the league since mid-December, the Blues owners could be forgiven for wishing the man in the dugout had a few more miles on the clock.

Experience on the bench will not prevent a goalkeeper committing a howler like Filip Jorgensen did for Villa’s winner, nor will it stop Cole Palmer missing a simple chance to restore Chelsea’s lead in the second half. This was a close game and in the decisive moments, Villa came out on the right side of the line.

Yet battle-hardened managers have been through these wobbles before and can draw on those memories when they need to. Palmer was comfortably Chelsea’s best player in 2024 but on Saturday the England attacker looked increasingly agitated with himself and his team-mates.

Were Palmer a Villa player, Emery could call on many similar situations with high-class footballers in his career and act accordingly. 

Maresca does not have that luxury. He might have been part of Guardiola’s coaching staff at City and played for Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi, but this is the first time Maresca has been the man making the key calls.

Then there is his ability to read a game and react. Maresca got his initial team selection spot on and won the early tactical battle with Emery. 

When Emery changed the balance of his side at half-time, however, sending on Marcus Rashford to run at Malo Gusto and allowing Morgan Rogers to drift inside, Maresca did not respond.

He might have switched Reece James from midfield to right-back to counter Rashford’s threat or put Jadon Sancho on the right to run at the vulnerable Ian Maatsen. Maresca did neither, moving only to introduce Sancho for Christopher Nkunku on the left late in the game – a like for like switch.

At least the fixture list is smiling on Maresca. Southampton at home is as close to a gimme as you can get in the Premier League these days and the ideal fixture to lift the spirits and perhaps calm Palmer’s nerves. Then the Blues have a break from domestic action until March 9, when they take on Maresca’s former club Leicester.

Villa have it far tougher. A difficult trip to Crystal Palace on Tuesday is followed three days later by Cardiff at home in the FA Cup. Then on March 4, Villa restart their Champions League campaign, travelling to Club Brugge for the first leg of their last-16 tie.

Emery has clearly decided that risk will bring reward over the remainder of the campaign. 

Marco Asensio was the match-winner against Chelsea but the Spaniard is a virtual passenger when Villa do not have the ball. 

Similarly, Rashford has already been devastating in flashes but there is a cost to Villa’s solidity. In their last two matches against Liverpool and Chelsea, Villa gave up 32 shots and 5.35 xG (expected goals).

With only three clean sheets in the league this season, it seems Emery thinks his best chance of success is to forget about keeping the back door shut and focus on blowing them off at the other end. Rashford and Asensio certainly give him the ammunition to do so.