London: Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca revealed co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali were “all happy” after they celebrated Saturday’s 3-0 win at West Ham despite reports of a power struggle between the pair.
Boehly and Eghbali are said to have fallen out over a number of issues since their Stamford Bridge takeover in 2022, with reports claiming each wants to buy the other’s stake in the Premier League club.
It has been a turbulent time for Chelsea under Boehly and Eghbali, who have parted company with a host of managers while spending over £1 billion ($1.33 billion) on new signings in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the Blues’ fortunes.
Regardless of their alleged rift, the pair were at the London Stadium to see Nicolas Jackson’s first-half double and a strike from Cole Palmer to give Chelsea their third league win under new boss Maresca.
The Italian said Boehly and Eghbali visited the dressing room after the final whistle to congratulate the players, who have scored 10 goals in their three away league victories this term.
“Not only today, it’s always good when we win games for the owners, especially because they were both here,” Maresca said.
“We can give them some good moments. They were in the changing room, they were all happy.”
Chelsea finished sixth and 12th in the last two seasons and haven’t won the Premier League since 2017.
While Chelsea have shown signs of improvement in the early days of Maresca’s reign, the former Leicester boss warned against being lulled into thinking their problems have all been solved.
“I think we’re on the right path,” he said. “We’re in the right direction, but it’s a long journey.
“We won today and we’re in a good moment, it looks like everything is fine. But not everything is fine. We could attack better, defend better.
“For me, the main target in this moment is to see how we progress as a team and I think we are improving many things, even if today we could manage the game much better.”
Chelsea owners ‘happy’ with win at West Ham amid rift report
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Chelsea owners ‘happy’ with win at West Ham amid rift report
Australia crush England by 8 wickets for 2-0 Ashes lead
- Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow
BRISBANE: Australia cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win over England in the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday for an ominous 2-0 lead in the series.
Set a paltry target of 65 for victory, Australia captain Steve Smith pulled Gus Atkinson for a huge six over square leg to get the job done in style.
Although not as humiliating as the two-day loss in the first Test at Perth, England were comprehensively outplayed in every department.
Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow.
“Great day. First two days were pretty even, game turned when we were able to extend to get the new ball under lights, that was crucial for us,” said Smith, who clashed verbally with England bowler Jofra Archer as the hosts raced to victory.
“It can be tricky with the pink ball, it changes really quickly and you have to adapt.”
For England it was more misery. Their batting, apart from Joe Root and Zak Crawley in the first innings and captain Ben Stokes and Will Jacks in the second, was just as rash as in Perth.
They gave their wickets away with poor strokes on the bouncy Gabba surface.
They also bowled poorly, pitching too short and wasting the new pink ball, in stark contrast to an Australian attack missing spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
To make matters worse England dropped five catches in the first innings, whereas Australia’s fielders caught everything that came their way.
Josh Inglis’s brilliant run-out of Stokes in the first innings changed the course of the match. “Obviously very disappointing,” said Stokes.
“I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line.”
England were behind the game once they let Australia’s tail help the home side post 511 on Saturday, an overall lead of 177.
They then lost six second-innings wickets under lights to end the third day 134-6, still 43 runs behind the Australian total.
While many expected England to surrender meekly on Sunday, Stokes and all-rounder Jacks led a fighting rearguard action to ensure Australia had to bat a second time.
Stokes and Jacks defied the Australian pace attack on a fiercely hot day to edge their way past the initial deficit target and begin to set Australia something to chase.
England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said Saturday his batsmen would not change their aggressive approach, despite a clatter of wickets from poor shots.
But Stokes and Jacks were patient during the first session Sunday. They left balls they didn’t need to play and seemed happy to take their runs in singles rather than expansive boundary shots.
They scored just 28 runs in the first hour and passed the 43-run deficit 96 minutes into the session, scoring only 59 runs in the two hours.
The Australian bowlers, who ran rampant under lights on Saturday with the pink ball, were far more ineffective on Sunday, despite the wicket beginning to play some tricks.
The English offered only one chance when Scott Boland squared up Stokes, who got a thick edge over the slips cordon.
They continued to frustrate the Australians in the second session until just before the drinks break Jacks got an edge to Michael Neser and Smith snared a breath-taking catch at slip, diving full length to his left and catching it low to the ground.
Neser struck again in the next over when Stokes nibbled at a ball outside the off-stump and got a fine edge to keeper Alex Carey to leave England 227-8, a lead of exactly 50.
