Chelsea exceeded expectations, says a happy Maresca

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

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

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

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

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

Maresca took over in the 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: “Absolutely, 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.

“We changed seven players again tonight 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. Overall, we deserved to win.

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

Ice cold Palmer stars

Palmer was outstanding again, the English representative produced the best of the match with his two goals – the second spot kick by the wonderful Panenka.

“I’ve known Cole for a long time and I always trust him in every aspect,” added Maresca. “He’s a fantastic boy. He’s learning how to play games when marked man-to-man, (Iv) Bisuma was with him the whole game.

“He is learning, improving and scoring goals. It makes him happy and makes us happy.”

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

“It’s more of a question for Mark.” They are mature enough to decide what 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.”