Enzo Maresca hailed his Chelsea side’s “nasty” streak as they claimed a vital victory over Everton in the race for the Champions League.
Nicolas Jackson’s first goal since mid-December gave the Blues a 1-0 win over David Moyes’s side that takes them back into the top-four, at least temporarily.
That opening goal came midway through the first half and Chelsea might have put the game to bed had it not been for a string of good stops from Jordan Pickford.
Their failure to do so, however, set up a nervy finale, with Robert Sanchez making two late saves of his own to preserve the three points.
“The first-half, we controlled the game, dominated, created chances and didn’t concede anything,” Maresca said. “Then second half, we dropped a bit. It’s part of the game.
“The good thing was we were strong, nasty enough when we needed to be. We deserved to win the game and we’re happy.”
Maresca was forced to watch the game from the press box while serving a one-match touchline ban, having picked up a yellow card for his celebration of last week’s late win at Fulham.
Asked whether he enjoyed the new vantage point, the Italian added: “No, [it was] a disaster, to be honest. It’s the worst. I prefer to be on the bench. You want to say something but nobody can hear.”
Maresca also heaped praise on goalkeeper Sanchez, who reacted smartly to keep out would-be equalisers from Beto and substitute Dwight McNeil.
The Spaniard has come under heavy criticism this season for a number of high-profile mistakes and was at one point dropped in favour of reserve ’keeper Filip Jorgensen.
“You can see the teammates, how they celebrated with him at the end of the game,” Maresca said. “The team know that for Robert it has not been a good moment so they try to support him and to help him.
“Robert had already many good moments this season. It’s normal that as a human being you always remember the bad things and not the good things, so about Robert we remember just the mistakes but also he had some very good moments. Hopefully, he can continue until the end.”
