Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has spoken to the press ahead of his side's London derby against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The Blues travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face Ange Postecoglou's men after they were beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth on Thursday night.
Spurs sit 10th in the Premier League, eight points off second-placed Chelsea ahead of the huge clash in north London.
Maresca's men come into the game in fine form, having thrashed Southampton 5-1 on Wednesday just days after beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian has played down his side's title chances, but with Liverpool dropping points in midweek, the Blues are just seven points behind the league leaders going into the weekend.
Absolute Chelsea has every word Maresca said ahead of the huge clash, including some updated team news, Maresca's thoughts on Chelsea's title chances after another win and an injury update.
Chelsea thrashed Southampton in midweek, while Spurs lost to Bournemouth.
Chelsea thrashed Southampton in midweek, while Spurs lost to Bournemouth. / IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
On team news:
"Both (Reece James and Wesley Fofana) are slowly getting better but as we said the other day it's a matter of weeks. They are still far. The only one still ill is Misha Mudryk. The rest are okay."
On fans being excited to watch Chelsea play:
"We are very happy for the fans. They deserve to live this moment. They can dream, we are very happy. We work every day to make them happy and proud of the players. There's nothing to add, I said I don't think we are there and ready to compete with Arsenal, Liverpool and City. We have to do many more things good, not just score goals, avoid to concede. Defensively we are doing well but we are just focused on Sunday and then the next one. We are not thinking about April, May or June. It's too early. Things can change quick in football. The focus is Sunday, today's session and tomorrow's session."
On the Club World Cup:
"I said, not only me, but we said there are so many games. We will see when we are close to May, June or July and from there we will prepare for that competition. "I know the Group (Stage opponents])because of yesterday's draw but I don't know who will start, finish or who will play. I don't have any idea yet. When we start in June, in May I will see. Now, I don't know! I know the group, no more than that. We have some day off in case we play the final but I don't know."
On Postecoglou being booed by Spurs fans:
"It's nothing new. It depends on their results and situation. Is it fair or unfair? It's our job."
On Spurs' injury crisis in defence:
"We try always to exploit, no matter the other team or their defenders. I think (Cristian) Romero can be back, probably the solution from them. We will see."
On Noni Madueke:
"Overall he's working well since we start. Sometimes he drops a little bit. He's not allowed to drop. In terms of numbers, he's doing fantastic with goals and assists. Off the ball when we ask him to defend and press he's doing very well. The only reason I said this the other day is because I want the best from Noni and to get the best you have to push him. If he relaxes a little bit, it's wrong."
Noni Madueke was back on the scoresheet against Southampton after being dropped the previous weekend.
Noni Madueke was back on the scoresheet against Southampton after being dropped the previous weekend. / IMAGO / PA Images
On rotation:
"Since we started we tried to change players. We did the same against Southampton. Changing seven in the Premier League is a big number but they all deserved minutes. The good thing is that, no matter how many we change, you can see the identity of the team."
On his managerial style:
I try to be, not a friend, but close to the players. Sometimes between friends, when you say something wrong to your friend he's not happy. He has to know that what you say is because you want to take care of him. I like to be quite close (to the players). At the past at Leicester, I had a fantastic relation with the players. This is the way I like to have relations with the players. The same here."
On constructive criticism
"When you say something they don't like, they think you don't want to be close but it's a way to be close and show them I take care of them. It's not this (to show I'm the boss). " The same happened with Reece when I spoke about leadership, it's because I wanted the best for Reece and for him to improve. For Noni, this is not different."
On goalkeepers:
"Robert (Sanchez) is our number one."
On Spurs:
"They are, first of all, have good players and manager. It's very clear what they want to do on and off the ball. What kind of problems they have, I don't know. You have to be there to understand. A fantastic team, they beat City 4-0 two weeks ago. Hopefully for us (there will be a lot of goals)."
On Enzo Fernandez:
"He's improving a lot in terms of understanding the game and the position. Now he's arriving in the box. This is what we need from the attacking players. He has many things he can do better, all the squad do. He's in the right way."
Enzo Fernandez has been on fine form after a period on the bench.
Enzo Fernandez has been on fine form after a period on the bench. / IMAGO / Action Plus
On Moises Caicedo's role:
"Probably Moi as a full-back inside was in our minds from day one but because of the Romeo injury and Enzo moment (out of form), we decided to use him as a holding midfielder. For sure in the future we can use him as a full-back. We will see him again there. On the ball, we have Moi inside next to Romeo and Enzo. We are quite good. Enzo is giving us balance so for sure it's an option."
On progress:
"We take every game as a reference. Our reference is just day by day, the training sessions. We can see clearly the players are on board, happy and enjoying the moment and way we want to play. Every game is a test."
On differences between Chelsea and Leicester:
"I took exactly the same way - focus on the squad, these players, how we can help them and improve the team. The same way I took Leicester was exactly the same way. Focus on improving the players and the team. I get paid for this, to do my job. I just focus on that and give my best every day. I spend many hours to understand how to help the players improve and convince them."
On how he is succeeding at Chelsea:
"I try to spend hours to understand how I can help the players. We just finished the session, the last half an hour was an extra session for some of the players to improve them. We watched the last game, worked with them to improve. I have four or five assistants upstairs to spend time on small details about position - control with the right and left [feet], play with the right, play with the left. This kind of thing."
On Southampton win:
"I said I was upset the first 15 to 20 minutes because we were wrong in the way we were pressing. Until the first goal or second goal I called some of the players on the bench because we needed to change. Southampton, even with four points, if you don't press them higher man-to-man, you struggle to recover the ball because they are very good. We were wrong. We scored five, we could've scored more."
On title chances:
"Even the Italian guy (journalist asking the question) who is welcoming me (saying Ciao) is asking about the title race! In terms of points and how we want to play on and off the ball, I was convinced we'd reach that moment but not so early. We can do many things better in both situations - attacking and defending. We are ahead of my expectations. It's because the players are doing fantastic. Probably the reason why is because we focus on the day by day and seeing how we can improve players. No more than that."