Enzo Maresca's attention post-match on Thursday swiftly switched to Sunday afternoon's trip to Newcastle United.
Despite Chelsea just booking their place in this month's Conference League final, Maresca immediately had to preview a crucial Premier League game at the weekend. Here is every word the Italian had to say on Chelsea's test at St. James' Park:
How big is a trip to Newcastle?
It's a big one, it's a huge one. United will be a big one, Forest will be a big one. Now we have three more games, all of them are going to be big games. For sure, Sunday is a chance to start in the right way. We are in a good run, in a good mood and hopefully we can play a good game and win the game.
Can we expect a similar line-up to that which played against Liverpool last weekend?
From us? Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We'll try the first result against Djurgarden, also give us a little bit of a chance to rotate tonight and to protect players. But we have still now tomorrow and Saturday to prepare the game and then we'll see.
Early kick-off affect your preparations?
It's not the ideal situation. It's 12 o'clock in the morning, it's first thing in the morning, but we need to play the game. So we need to adapt immediately, prepare the game in the best way and as I said, hopefully we can continue our good moment.
How are you going to get your players to forget tonight and refocus themselves to make sure the European is put aside for the finish of the Premier League season?
Tomorrow we're going to start to prepare Newcastle. We have two days, tomorrow and Saturday. The players need to be focused on the Newcastle game because it's the next one and for us, it has to be like thinking that it's the last game of the season, give everything and then we'll see at the end.
Midfield battle will be important. What have you made of Sandro Tonali this season?
Sandro probably this season has been top for Newcastle. For him, he's doing very well. He's a fantastic player. I know him since he was in Brescia and then moved to Milan and then now here in England.
He's a fantastic player, he's doing well but they have many, many good players. They are different players. We're going to try to prepare the game in the best way, in the way that we think we can win the game and hopefully at the end we can be happy with the result.
Do you actually prefer these type of games where the opponent will actually give it a go against you?
Yeah, they are very aggressive. They are very aggressive, especially when we are on our side. It's a team that is aggressive, they go man to man. Probably when they are on their side, they are more medium block, low block. But it's a team that also physically they are very strong and they are very aggressive.
Do you think that brings the best out of your team?
I hope so. I hope so. We play games against teams, low block against teams that they are, they try to be aggressive and we made some good games in both situations. Hopefully Sunday we can have a good game.
Newcastle's midfield has been praised plenty this season. Are you hoping Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo can become such a key component of your team in the future?
Yeah, for sure. I think after Liverpool game some of you asked me and said to me that we repeat the first 11 after six months. I mean, Everton and Liverpool. we play with same 11 after six months. It's important when you can continue with same players because it's very important. Now we have Romeo back that is fit, Moi is doing well, Enzo is doing well, Cole is doing well. And they also have Bruno Guimaraes, Tonali, Murphy and Joelinton that now is injured. They have different kind of players that they are good players and I expect for sure a huge game.
Is stopping Alexander Isak the key to stopping Newcastle?
I think Isak is a top player but it's not enough. There are more players so we need to work as a team and we need to stop them as a team.
The early kick-off isn't ideal for you in terms of tonight and then but Newcastle is a place with a quite intimidating atmosphere. Do you hope the fact that it's so early in the day lessens that a little bit?
You think? [laughs]
You never know, it might happen.
Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I don't know. But for sure the environment will be top. The players, they're going to embrace that and they're going to deal with that, no doubt.
Frustration at where you are in the table given your position halfway through the season?
No, the frustration is that we had many games where we created enough chances to win the game and we didn't win. But now is not the moment to think about that. Now is the moment to try to win as much as we can in these last three games and then we'll see.
Do you feel you shouldn't be in this position having to do it given those games?
I think also in terms of data, if you see no chances missed, I think we could have some more points. but now is where it is and we need to win the games that we have.
I know you wouldn't want to put a points tally on it but given you've got to play Forest and Newcastle, is there a possibility that two wins might be enough?
No, we're going to try to win the three games that we have. Now how many points we need to finish? top five, no idea because it depends also on the other results, but we need to be focused on us and try to win the three games. Then if it's two or one, we don't know but the focus is to try to win the three games we have.