Despite dropping two points against Everton on Sunday, Enzo Maresca has praised his Chelsea side and even said he was happy with their performance.
Enzo Maresca Happy With Everton Draw
Chelsea missed out on an opportunity to go top of the Premier League on Sunday, after drawing 0-0 with Everton at Goodison Park.
The blank for Chelsea was a rare one, as the Blues have only failed to score in one other league fixture this year – against Manchester City on the first game of the season.
“I’m absolutely happy. I’m more happy today than the Brentford game. It’s a tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team. They are one of the five best teams defensively in Europe in terms of clean sheets.”
The 0-0 draw was Everton’s second successive stalemate in the league, after holding Arsenal to the same scoreline at home last week.
“It was a tough game to create chances. In general, you struggle to create chances against them. There was not space for Cole. Overall in this kind of game, you have to be clinical.”
Cole Palmer was unusually quiet against the Toffees and he was limited to just two shots with the Chelsea forward enduring a frustrating afternoon.
Chelsea had their opportunities to score throughout the game but Everton were able to hold tough in another gritty Sean Dyche defensive performance.
Sean Dyche Needs Wins
While a draw for Everton was enough to give them some breathing space away from the relegation zone, Sean Dyche believes that his side have to start winning if they are going to stay up.
“People talk about my own position – win games, they have made it clear. They are supportive of my role, what I’ve done here and what I hope we do. We have got to win games, though. I’m not naive.
“I never lack pride in what we do, that’s for sure,” he added. “I’m pleased with the mentality. There is a lot of noise with what they do. It can affect people, I don’t think it has this time, they have stayed resolute to the cause.”
Everton have a busy Christmas period coming up and things only get harder heading into the new year, with fixtures against Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth all coming up.
