Enzo Maresca, Manager of Chelsea, reacts during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Chelsea FC at Goodison Park on December 22, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)Enzo Maresca, Manager of Chelsea, reacts during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Chelsea FC at Goodison Park on December 22, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Enzo Maresca, Manager of Chelsea, reacts during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Chelsea FC at Goodison Park on December 22, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Everton battled to a 0-0 draw against Chelsea in the Premier League at Goodison Park.
The Toffees battled to a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park. There was not significant chances for either side, although Nicolas Jackson hit the post for Chelsea in the first half while Jack Harrison spurned a decent opportunity after the break for Everton.
The Stamford Bridge side had the chance to move top of the table, at least for a few hours, had they been triumphant. Instead, they find themselves five points adrift of the summit after Liverpool’s victory over Tottenham.
However, a pragmatic Maresca knew Chelsea were in for a big test against an Everton outfit he believes boast one of Europe’s best defences - and at a tricky’ Goodison.
“I am absolutely happy,” said the Chelsea boss. “I just said to the players I am more happy today than I was after the Brentford game (a 2-1 win).
“The reason why was I was quite worried about this game: tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team. Defensively they are top, they are one of the five-best teams in Europe in terms of clean sheets so you struggle to create chances against them.
“It was not an easy game and you have to learn how to play different games: long ball, second ball, set-pieces. Football is not only just how good you play on the ball, it is how you defend and how you deal with that. I am very proud today and more happy than the Brentford game. We prepare the game to win every game but sometimes there are other teams there who try to do the same so we are happy today.
“We knew already it was a tough game in terms of clear chances if you saw their last game against Arsenal. But in general you always struggle to create chances against them. For sure we could have attacked better but there was no space for Cole [Palmer]
“We tried in the last half-hour to move him into an attacking midfielder but all in all in these kind of games, knowing you are not going to create many chances, you have to be clinical and in the first half we had the Nico one with the keeper and the post from Nico and one or two chances inside the box. If you are able to be clinical then and score the game can be completely different but until that moment you will struggle.”
Continue Reading