In round 17 of the Premier League, Chelsea visited Everton. Although The Blues were on an 8-match winning streak and were rated higher, they were unable to score. As a result, the two teams drew with a score of 0.
After the match, coach Enzo Maresca admitted the difficulty of facing Everton. The Chelsea coach was quoted by Standard UK: “I was quite nervous about this match. It was a difficult match, the stadium was stressful and the opponent was not easy to play against. They are a top defensive team. To create chances against Everton, you have to do a lot of things.
While Everton have kept a league-leading seven clean sheets, the Blues have missed the chance to close the gap on the Premier League leaders. They currently have 35 points, four behind Liverpool.
Enzo Maresca on Chelsea's valuable lesson: “You have to deal with it and Chelsea need to learn more lessons. Long balls, second balls, finding space and set pieces. Football is not just about how you hold the ball. It's also about how you defend and how you deal with situations.
Today's match is very different from the others. The players will have to learn. It was not easy, but my students united wonderfully."
In fact, Chelsea also had moments when they almost broke Everton's net in the first half. That was the situation when Nicolas Jackson headed the ball into the post and another time he was defeated by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Enzo Maresca demanded that his players be sharper: “In games like this, knowing that you won’t create many chances, you have to be sharp. In the first half, we missed a one-on-one and a shot from Nico that hit the post, and a few more chances.”
