Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea is back in the win column at the expense of London derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, collecting three big points away from home.
Moises Caicedo was the star for Chelsea, and the Blues needed every bit of their effort to solve Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
MORE — Spurs vs Chelsea player ratings out of 10 | Spurs v Chelsea recap, highlights
The Chelsea manager will be happy to be back in the Premier League win column following a loss to Sunderland in Week 9, and perhaps happier than his defense looked stronger than it did in a victorious seven-goal League Cup scrap with Wolves at midweek.
But is that how Maresca sees it?
Enzo Maresca reaction — Chelsea boss speaks after Caicedo spurs Blues to London derby win
How do you feel? “Was a good performance for sure to come into this stadium in this team in this moment where they look very, very good, you need this kind of performance to get three points.”
How good is Moises Caicedo? “He’s top. In this moment, I think him with Rodri are the top best defensive midfielders probably in the world.”
Frustrated by not finishing a second chance? “Especially in England, 1-nil is not finished. Today we could’ve scored 1-2 more and the game was 2-nil, 3-nil. But we are very happy, 1-nil away against Tottenham, clean sheet.”
How good were Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah together? “We said many times that Wes is a top defender for us. We were one of the teams before the game with the most goals in the Premier League. The problem is the goals conceded are too many and we want to be defensively solid.”
Back in fourth place. “It’s the first thing I said to the players. We went from 11th to 4th, it’s a matter of maintaining balance. In the last seven games, we won six and lost one against Sunderland. Everyone was saying something was wrong.”
Moises Caicedo reaction
“We needed this win, so the reaction from the team was so good and everybody’s happy now.”
“These games we need to play like this. The team was so good. I’m so happy for the performance from the boys. Now we need to keep it and for sure we want to keep winning things.”
Joao Pedro reaction
“Big game, derby. We knew they had a good team and we had to do 100% to win the game. Now we need to look forward.”
On Moises Caicedo’s assist for his goal: “Moises — everyone knows he’s a top top player. It’s a pleasure to play with him. When he passed to me, at halftime I told him I have to invite him to dinner. I want to say thank you to him and to the team for the support. I scored but I still need to improve. I had a lot of chances. It’s been a long time since I scored for Chelsea, and the team expects that from me.”