🚨 BREAKING Full Enzo Maresca pre-Everton press conference:
Team injury report:
“Malo is injured but it does not look like an important injury. He is running and doing things outside but he won’t be available for tomorrow. Marc [Guiu] is close. Hopefully one or two weeks he can be with us for the final part of the season, Aaron Anselmino is still out, but the rest are still fit. Hopefully Marc can be back in one or two weeks.”
Lavia latest:
“He is back, training with us. With Romeo, we are trying the same thing we are trying with Reece James. We need to use them step by step. With Reece it is working quite well.”
Is George pushing for a start?:
“Yeah. But now for a young player, we are excited, but we need to manage them because they can be too easily excited and can be too easily down. Him and Josh Acheampong, both at the beginning of the season were looking for different solutions but they started the pre-season with us and we saw they can be good for us, so we decided to keep them.”
Understand fans’ frustration?:
“I can understand. We are trying to keep them happy. I think the fans thought Chelsea were back some time ago and now probably because we are not winning the same amount of games as the beginning, they are showing they are not happy. We need to accept now they are not happy. The players are working hard every day to bring this club to where it needs to be. The journey is just starting.”
Neto’s progress:
“I think Pedro helps us a lot, especially when Nico was injured and he played as a No.9. He is better on the right but sometimes we use him on the left because we also have Noni. I think overall he is doing well with us. I think he has scored four or five goals in the Premier League. Our wingers, for me, have to score around 10 goals at the end of the season. Pedro is doing well but there is no doubt he can do better in terms of numbers.”
How has Nkunku been in training?:
“He is in the squad, yes. He has been good in the last week when he was out. We need to decide one or two players out and to give some of the young players a chance to be with us. It was just because of that but now he is back in the squad. He is training well. Probably in this moment, if he is in the squad, one offensive player has to be out for the Fulham game and that probably would have been Tyrique.”
Where he will sit tomorrow due to being banned:
“They are going to show me this afternoon a few places I can sit and then I will decide. For sure, it’s just an instinct to celebrate when we scored our second goal. I need to think a little bit more in that moment but it was an immediate reaction.”
Champions League push:
“No doubt, 100%. To say that this season has been already a good season compared to the last two does not mean we are not trying to finish top five. It is our target. Since March, we start to say our target is Champions League. The team has always been there, so why not? Now we are behind but we are going to try and finish in the right way.”
Enough progress?:
“For sure in terms of results, we have the obligation to bring this club to where it belongs. The results have been there. But the good thing is me as a manager, the club, we all have ambition of where we want to go and we are in the right direction. Hopefully we can be there very soon.”
50th game as Chelsea head coach tomorrow:
“Very happy, it has been a good experience. I have learned many things. Playing every three days, it’s a journey in terms of learning things. We have had some bad moments, some good moments, but the club has a vision and we are just at the beginning of that vision.”
Enzo’s thoughts on Moyes:
“The history talks for itself. I was at West Ham before he joined so I had the chance to speak to him a few times. He is another manager in England that can be considered a legend for the good things he has done in football.”
Chelsea interested in Vardy?:
“I spoke with Jamie yesterday. Not about Chelsea [laughs]. I said football needs people like him.”
