Enzo Maresca was pleased with Chelsea's ability to overcome an early two-goal deficit and claim a 4-3 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, allowing the Blues to climb to within four points of leaders Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
It was a thrilling comeback for the visitors, who rode a three-goal second half to secure the win and take sole possession of second place in the standings after Arsenal's 1-1 draw at Fulham earlier in the day.
For Maresca, his players showed a high level of performance that facilitated the comeback. The first-year Chelsea manager said that the standard has been raised in the team due to competition for places all throughout the squad — which is exactly what he had hoped to implement when he took over in the summer.
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"The plan or the idea is to not let the players slow down," Maresca told Sky Sports. "They can not drop because they know another player is waiting to come in."
With Liverpool being idle this weekend due to the postponement of the Merseyside derby, Sunday presented an opportunity for all chasing teams to close the gap on the league leaders. Chelsea were the biggest beneficiaries due to their victory over Spurs, although Maresca suggested that the teams immediately surrounding his own in the title race are still ahead of the Blues despite their current second-place standing, and that his side cannot count on the other clubs in the top four to stumble.
"Arsenal, City and Liverpool probably don't slide - like [Marc] Cucurella did," he said while light-heartedly referring to the Chelsea left-back who slipped twice in the match before changing footwear.
"To be serious, we are not ready, we are far from these teams but we focus on day-by-day and trying to improve the team."
