If Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca were to offer an explanation for Liam Delap’s absence against Tottenham Hotspur, it may be closer to stupidity rather than suspension.
The normally placid Italian head coach tore into his 22-year-old striker in midweek after he was baited into a pair of brainless yellow cards during Wednesday’s nervy Carabao Cup victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“We had a very stupid red card that was completely unnecessary and was absolutely deserved,” Maresca fumed after watching his No. 9 buffet Yerson Mosquera and Emmanuel Agbadou to the turf. “We can avoid red cards like these and we have to avoid them.
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“When it’s a red card like today, it’s embarrassing. There were two yellow cards in seven minutes, both avoidable.”
Even though Delap’s dismissal took place in the Carabao Cup, suspensions for red cards carry across all English domestic competitions, thereby barring him from the Chelsea squad which travelled to north London for Saturday’s mouthwatering clash with Spurs.
While Delap’s red card may have been uniquely boneheaded, it is hardly Chelsea’s first disciplinary slip of the season. The Blues have received five sendings-off in 2025–26, not including the dismissal Maresca received against Liverpool.
Having repeatedly brushed aside talk of any serious issue behind these red cards, Chelsea’s manager belatedly accepted it is “something that we have to do better.”
Chelsea Red Cards in 2025–26
Date / Opponent Dismissed Individual Reason
Sept. 20 / Man Utd Robert Sánchez Denial of goalscoring opportunity
Sept. 27 / Brighton Trevoh Chalobah Denial of goalscoring opportunity
Sept. 30 / Benfica João Pedro Two yellow cards
Oct. 4 / Liverpool Enzo Maresca Two yellow cards
Oct. 18 / Nottingham Forest Malo Gusto Two yellow cards
Oct. 29 / Wolves Liam Delap Two yellow cards
Liam Delap
Liam Delap was sent off on his return. / Marc Atkins/Getty Images
The red mist had faded for Delap by the time his Chelsea teammates trudged back into the dressing room after clinging onto an unnecessarily tetchy 4–3 win at Molineux on Wednesday. “Straight after the game in the changing room, yeah. He apologised to everyone,” Maresca revealed.
“I spoke with Liam, but Liam, he knows everything. He is aware of the situation. He knows that he made a mistake. And full stop. No more than that.”
Delap won’t get the chance to redeem himself in a competitive setting until Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Qarabag. Three days later, the summer recruit is intriguingly reunited with his tormentors Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
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