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Hello! Out with the old, in with the new. One Premier League club followed that mantra to the letter on January 1.

Coming up:

🚪Maresca exits Chelsea

🙏 Hope for EPL’s promoted duo

👀 Gabon’s AFCON mayhem

⚽ New ball = belting goals?

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Blue beginning: Maresca leaves Chelsea just hours into 2026

(Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Start the new year as you mean to go on, they say, and 2026 promises to be fun and games at Chelsea. A few hours into it, Enzo Maresca was gone. A day later, the name of his likely replacement is becoming clear — and every bit as curious in itself.

Curious is a better way to describe Maresca’s demise than shocking because his exit from Stamford Bridge had been telegraphed. He leaves with two trophies on his record — the Conference League and the Club World Cup — and his contract was set to 2029, but if you’ve followed the past few weeks, you’ll know he and Chelsea were headed for divorce.

The Italian wouldn’t say what precisely was rattling his cage, but from the moment he described the 48 hours leading up to a Premier League win over Everton on December 13 as “the worst” of his career at Chelsea (swiftly followed by reports of Manchester City sizing him up as a Pep Guardiola replacement), the countdown started. Yesterday, a mutual parting of ways was announced.

This comes despite Maresca insisting he would be in charge of Chelsea next season, but when head coaches find themselves in a fix, they tend to say whatever is expedient (and sometimes simply say anything). In the end, he barely made it beyond 2025. Results suffered badly in the meantime, and seven points from seven league games leaves the club 15 points adrift of Arsenal.