Enzo Maresca has joked that Chelsea’s title rivals ‘probably don’t slide – like Cucurella’ this season.
Chelsea closed the gap on leaders Liverpool to four points after a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory at Tottenham on Sunday.
The Blues found themselves two goals down inside 11 minutes with Marc Cucurella culpable for both Spurs goals. The Spaniard’s footwear let him down twice as two costly slips were punished in ruthless fashion by the home side.
Jadon Sancho’s lovely finish brought Chelsea back into the game on 17 minutes and the West Londoners completed the comeback after the break.
A brace of penalties from Cole Palmer – the latter lifted down the middle with exquisite cool – and an Enzo Fernandez strike put Chelsea in charge of the derby. Heung-min Son scored a third in stoppage time for Spurs but Chelsea held on to the the points.
Speaking at full-time, Maresca said he hopes the Chelsea fans enjoy their derby success and said he wants his in-form team to keep pushing.
“For the fans and for us, I said in the week that we were working to make the fans happy, and today they can be happy.”
“The plan or the idea is to not let the players slow down. They can not drop because they know another player is waiting to come in.”
Maresca admitted this week that Chelsea were ahead of schedule but dismissed talk of a potential title challenge. He again downplayed his side’s hopes and talked up the strength of their rivals – alongside a joke at Cucurella’s expense.
“Arsenal, City and Liverpool probably don’t slide – like Cucurella did. To be serious, we are not ready, we are far from these teams but we focus on day-by-day and trying to improve the team.”
Read – ‘Special’ Palmer has ‘done more than Zola’ at Chelsea
See more – Cole Palmer breaks Premier League penalty record in Chelsea win
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