Chelsea exceeds expectations, says a happy Maresca

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca admitted Chelsea exceeded his expectations after they staged a stunning comeback to win 4-3 at Tottenham this afternoon.

The west Londoners were 2-0 down inside 11 minutes after two slips by Marco Cucurella, who appeared to be wearing the wrong type of boot, but fought back to close within four points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Cole Palmer scored two penalties and Jadon Sancho and Enzo Fernandez were also on the scoresheet as Chelsea secured their fourth straight win in all competitions.

Cole Palmer cuts through the Tottenham defense and Enzo Fernandez is there to finish with a brilliant strike 💫 pic.twitter.com/UofYO0PxY4

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 8, 2024

Maresca took over this summer after leading Leicester to promotion last season and the Italian has been very impressive at Stamford Bridge so far.

Chelsea showed mental strength – Maresca

Asked if he was surprised by the speed of their progress, he told BBC Radio 5 Live: “For sure, 100 per cent. We are ahead of my expectations, in terms of the way we play on the ball, off the ball and in terms of results.

Tonight we changed seven players again, and we will make changes on Thursday and Sunday because they are good and they all deserve to play.

“Mentally, we showed how strong we are. All in all, we deserved to win.

“I think that on the ball, even when we conceded two goals, we played very well. The team played very well and then in the second half, until the last five minutes we did not concede anything and created opportunities. We deserved to win the game.”

Ice cold Palmer stars

Palmer was outstanding again, the English international giving his best performance which was rounded off by his two goals – the second from the first point by the brilliant Panenka.

I know Cole from before and I always trust him in every way, added Maresca. “He’s a fantastic guy. He’s learning how to play games when he’s marked man-to-man, (Yves) Bissouma was with him the whole game.

“He is learning, improving and scoring goals. That makes him happy, and so do we.”

When asked about Cucurella’s footwear, Maresca said: “He told me after the game that he was trying to bring emotion into the game!

“That’s more of a question for Marco. They are mature enough to decide which boots they need for the game. The most important thing is that we were 2-0, but we continued to create chances in the same way.”