'Caused many problems' - Enzo Maresca says two out-of-position Chelsea players impressed him against Everton
Chelsea took care of business against Everton to finally return to winning ways.
Enzo Maresca has been speaking after a much-needed Chelsea win on the back of four without a victory. The Blues had picked up just a point from their last three games across all competitions, and there will have been some trepidation when welcoming an Everton side that has been in very good form of late.
But Chelsea took care of business at Stamford Bridge, with Cole Palmer scoring with a very well-taken goal, and Malo Gusto turned home a cut-back to finish off the Toffees, though they did hit the post in the second half.
Speaking after the game, Maresca had special praise for his goalscorers and his versatile full-backs, telling club media: “I’m very happy for Cole [to score] and as I’ve said many times before, we are a better team with him in the side.
“But I really want to praise all the players and the squad, because we’ve had a lot of games recently. We’ve also played five games without Moi [Caicedo], 11 without Cole and almost all the games without Liam [Delap].
“There are important players for us and I’m sure people can appreciate that. It’s very important for Cole and hopefully it will give him a boost. Today was also important for all the players and the fans too. We are very happy with the result.
“Cole needs to be fit and that’s why we will manage him carefully. Hopefully we can keep him fit, that’s the most important thing, and hopefully he can be a help to us going forward. The effort is there from the players, you can see that. Reece and Malo are both full-backs but today, they both played as midfielders They caused many problems in the offensive areas.
“I’m very happy for Malo in that moment to score, he deserved his goal but I’m also happy for the team overall, for the performance we put in today. Now we must build on it.”
An ‘important win’
Speaking about the win more generally, Maresca added: “We’re very happy and this was a very important win for us.
“Everton have been on a good run in recent weeks and came here in good form. We’ve dropped points in the last week, so it was important to get the win. We knew it would be a difficult game but I thought we did very well and completely deserved to win the game. The effort from the players today was top and it was a good, important victory as I said.”
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