Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, labelled Liam Delap’s red card as “very stupid” after the striker’s late dismissal overshadowed the Blues’ dramatic 4–3 Carabao Cup victory over Wolves.

Delap, making his return from a 10-week hamstring lay-off, was sent off just 26 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.

According to BBC Sports on Thursday, the 22-year-old picked up two yellow cards in quick succession, first for pushing Yerson Mosquera, then for barging into Emmanuel Agbadou, and will now miss Saturday’s London derby against Tottenham, with João Pedro already a fitness doubt.

When asked whether Delap deserved to be sent off, Maresca said, “Absolutely, yes. Stupid foul. We can avoid that.”

The dismissal came as part of a wider Chelsea collapse.

They built a 3-0 lead at the interval, but after the break Wolves scored three times, with Jamie Gittens’ sensational late strike enough to scrape the Blues into the quarter-finals to face Cardiff City.

Maresca added, “The three goals we conceded, I think all of them we can avoid. Certainly, we also received a very unnecessary red card today.

“After the first yellow card, I told him [Delap] four or five times to keep calm. But Liam is a player who, when he’s on the pitch, is probably playing the game for himself and struggles to realise and listen to those around him.”

It was Chelsea’s sixth red card in nine games, including Maresca’s own dismissal for celebrating a last-minute winner against Liverpool before the international break.

The Italian was asked to clarify whether he had wider concerns about indiscipline, with Chelsea also having received the highest number of yellow cards in the Premier League over the past three seasons.

He continued, “I completely understand when there are red cards like against Brighton [Trevoh Chalobah red] or Manchester United [Robert Sanchez red], that’s difficult, but the red cards against Nottingham Forest and today, both we can and have to avoid.

“It’s embarrassing when it’s a red card like today because it’s two yellow cards in five or 10 minutes. Both, I think, we can avoid. So it’s not good.”

Arsenal have issued an apology to Atletico Madrid after a hot water failure at Emirates Stadium disrupted the Spanish side’s pre-match preparations.

According to BBC Sports on Tuesday, the issue left Atletico players without access to hot showers following their training session on Monday evening.

UEFA regulations permit visiting teams to train at the host stadium the day before a Champions League fixture.

Diego Simeone’s squad took to the pitch at the Emirates ahead of Tuesday’s group-stage clash, but were forced to return to their hotel early after discovering there was no hot water in their dressing room.

The team were due to finish training at 19:30 but finished 15 minutes early and decided to travel back to their team hotel instead.

Spanish newspaper Marca reported the Atletico squad were ‘angry’ with the situation.

Arsenal apologised to the Atletico Madrid staff for the inconvenience caused, with the issue eventually resolved at 19:25.

Mikel Arteta’s side have won their opening two Champions League games without conceding a goal.

Atletico were beaten 3-2 at Liverpool but responded with a 5-1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Arteta praised Diego Simeone’s side for their willingness to win and having a high level of discipline and organisation on their side.

“First of all [with Simeone’s team], it is the willingness to win. You can sense that in every single ball, in every single yard, the way that they play. It’s about how they compete, and then after how they play. They are two very different things.

“The levels of organisation and discipline are really high, and then they have acquired a lot of talents throughout the years that are very specific for the way they want to play. They are very good at exploiting those opportunities,” Arteta said.

Nottingham Forest have parted ways with manager Ange Postecoglou after a winless run of eight matches in charge.

The Greek coach’s time ended on Saturday afternoon after a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea.

Postecoglou’s side failed to record a single victory — suffering six defeats and crashing out of the Carabao Cup after a dramatic 3-2 loss to Swansea City, despite leading 2-1 in stoppage time.

The team’s only points came from draws against Burnley in the Premier League and Real Betis in the Europa League.

Details later

Nottingham Forest’s struggles in the Premier League continued on Saturday as they went down 3-0 at home to Chelsea, extending manager Ange Postecoglou’s winless run to eight matches.

Taiwo Awoniyi made his first start of the season. Forest started the game well and had a few chances, including one for Elliot Anderson, who was crowded out in the box after a Chelsea error.

Morgan Gibbs-White also missed a close-range volley, and Andrey Santos fired just wide after a neat ball from João Pedro.

Chelsea, missing key players like Cole Palmer and Moisés Caicedo, looked quiet in attack in the first half but came alive after half-time. Pedro Neto ran down the left and set up Josh Acheampong to score the opener. Three minutes later, Neto scored a free-kick to make it 2-0.

Forest’s defence continued to struggle, with Igor Jesus seeing a header from Callum Hudson-Odoi hit the bar and post. Reece James added a late third from a half-cleared corner. A late red card for Malo Gusto slightly spoiled the win for Chelsea.

The defeat leaves Forest under serious pressure. Owner Evangelos Marinakis had left his seat long before the final whistle, and Postecoglou’s future looks uncertain. Chelsea, meanwhile, has now won four of their last five visits to Forest, continuing their recent dominance over the Reds.

Besiktas FC of Turkey have appointed Super Eagles stand-in captain Wilfred Ndidi as the club’s new vice-captain, with the announcement made by the club’s board of directors in a statement released on Friday.

Ndidi will serve as deputy to Turkish international Orkun Kökçü, who has been named the new team captain. The duo replace former captain Necip Uysal and vice-captain Mert Günok as the new leaders of the first team.

“With the decision of our President Serdal Island and the Board of Directors, changes have been made regarding the captaincy of our Football A Team. Based on the recommendation of our technical team and the effectiveness of players on the field, Orkun Kökçü has been appointed as first captain and Wilfred Ndidi as second captain,” the club stated.

Besiktas also expressed gratitude to Uysal and Günok for their leadership and contributions while extending best wishes to Kökçü and Ndidi in their new roles.

The new captaincy duo will begin their leadership duties when Beşiktaş, currently sixth on the Turkish Super Lig table with 13 points from seven matches, host 14th-placed Gençlerbirliği S.K. on Saturday, October 18, in Matchday 8 of the season.

Cole Palmer has been ruled out of action for six more weeks, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said on Friday.

The England midfielder has not played since Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester United on September 20 — when he came off midway through the first half.

Maresca initially said he hoped Palmer, 23, would be back after this month’s international break.

“I was wrong. Unfortunately, he needs to be out for probably six more weeks. So, yes, this is the update,” he said.

The Italian said he was confident that the forward would not require surgery.

“We try just to protect Cole as much as we can, and the most important thing is that when he comes back, he’s fully recovered,” he added.

Maresca, whose team faces Nottingham Forest on Saturday, said replacing “one of the best players in the Premier League” was difficult.

“For sure, we need to find a different solution, we need to find different skills, because we don’t have another player like Cole,” he said. “Because Cole is unique.”

AFP