Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Arsenal in round 11 of the Premier League. Arsenal took the lead through Martinelli, but Pedro Neto then scored to help the Stamford Bridge team earn 1 point.
With this result, Chelsea are third in the table. However, they are yet to win against the big teams. Chelsea lost to Man City and Liverpool, but after a 1-1 draw with Arsenal, Maresca believes Chelsea will soon have a hard-fought victory over the teams at the top of the table.
"I've said it many times, do people think we deserved to lose to Liverpool? No. Very soon, Chelsea will win games like this. I liked this game, the team's performance was very good.
We are very happy with what we have shown. For me, Chelsea is behind clubs like Man City and Arsenal because they have worked with the same coach every day for a long time.
We are behind them, but Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world and we need to compete and try to win important games. We competed quite well with them and very soon we will win games like this,” said Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea gave Cole Palmer a start after he was injured against Man United, following a rough tackle by Lisandro Martinez. Palmer failed to make a significant impact in the derby against Arsenal.
The Italian also played down concerns over Palmer's fitness ahead of the international break, saying: "I don't think we took a risk with Cole Palmer. He was a doubt, but his performance was very good. He still has a little pain, but it's not a big deal."
Enzo Maresca also said he was not worried about Noni Madueke's reaction after the winger appeared angry when he was substituted in the 68th minute.
"The problem is that when you change a player, they are never happy. Maybe the only way to be happy is to leave the pitch after a hat-trick. Not only Noni, the other players will also have a reaction because they always want to play until the last minute," he said.
Noni Madueke and Lavia left the pitch in the 68th minute, replaced by Enzo Fernandez and Mudryk. Just two minutes later, Chelsea equalized 1-1 after Neto finished accurately from Enzo Fernandez's pass.
According to Maresca, he had an insight into the match before making a tactical substitution that was effective almost immediately.
