Chelsea U21 head coach to take charge against Man City after Maresca departure

Chelsea under-21 head coach Calum McFarlane will take charge of the senior team’s Premier League fixture against Manchester City on Sunday.

The Blues parted ways with Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day, reportedly due to growing tension between the Italian coach and the board.

Maresca led Chelsea to Conference League and Club World Cup success last season, but one win in their last seven league games put pressure on the former Leicester boss.

McFarlane revealed that he and his coaching staff have done some scouting on City, despite finding out about their role in the match on the same day that Maresca’s departure was announced.

“We found out at lunchtime yesterday [Thursday],” said McFarlane on when he was told he would be in charge against City.

“So we had the whole of yesterday to get our heads around how they've been playing and what their games have looked like and lucky that they played last night [versus Sunderland] as well so we got to watch that game. 

“We've had a chance to have a look and get some ideas together.”

McFarlane took training with the first team on Friday, but insisted that they were solely focused on training rather than questions about who would be their new boss.

"All my communication and relationship with the players has been around what training is going to look like today, what the next couple of days might look like, what Sunday might look like,” added the U21 coach.

“So in terms of the bigger picture, I'm probably not the person that they would be asking those questions.”

And when asked if he knew about any problems between Maresca and the board, he responded: “No. We're in a different building on the other side so my job is just to coach the U21s players to the best of our ability and help them get their opportunities in the first team.”