Maresca lauds Lavia and calls midfielder ‘one of the best’ as Chelsea claim crucial win | OneFootball

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has claimed that Romeo Lavia is “one of the best”, following his side’s 1-0 win over Everton.

The midfielder has just come back from injury and today was his first start since Bournemouth on the 14th January.

Maresca was full of praise for the Belgian, saying: “When he is fit, he is one of the best (midfielders) because he can defend very well, he can attack, and he breaks the lines unbelievable.”

Chelsea claimed all three points against Everton without Maresca, who was sat in the press box following a suspension.

When asked if he enjoyed it, the Italian said: “No, it was a disaster, I prefer to be on the bench. You want to be able to say something, but nobody can hear!”

The win takes Chelsea up to fourth in the league and the Italian was happy with his team’s performance. “I think first-half we controlled the game, we dominated, we created chances, we didn’t concede nothing. We were strong, nasty enough when we needed to be.”

Nicolas Jackson grabbed the goal for the Blues with a right-footed shot from outside the box that caught Jordan Pickford by surprise and finally ended his barren run of 12 games without a goal.

“We have said many times that we don’t have any doubt with the ones who for part of the season have struggled, like Nico, like Cole, like Robert, and in the moment you have to support them even more. Nico finally found the goal today and hopefully Cole can start finding the goal again soon.”

Robert Sanchez was arguably the man of the match today and came up with two amazing saves to win his side the game, and Maresca was delighted with the support he received afterwards from his teammates.

“You can see in the teammates, how they celebrate with him at the end of the game. You can see that they know that for Robert it has not been a good moment, so they try to support him and help him.”