Chelsea boss Enzo Marseca has been speaking to the media before Sunday’s Premier League game against Manchester United (16:30 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
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Maresca confirmed he has a full squad available to select from apart from Jadon Sancho who is ill but would have been ineligible to face his parent club anyway.
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He is looking forward to facing former team-mate Ruud Van Nistelrooy who will be in the United dugout on Sunday: “I didn’t speak with Ruud. I will give him a big hug on Sunday before the game. Fantastic guy, humble, very professional. I shared with him time when he was already finished but even then you could see how good he was.”
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He retains 100% confidence in Enzo Fernandez despite the £105m midfielder losing his starting place in the Premier League: “I still trust Enzo, there is no reason in the world I can lose confidence in him. I like to say that we don’t have an A or B team. There are players that are fantastic but we don’t have indispensable players.”
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On finding balance in his midfield: “When we play with Enzo [Fernandez], it has to be Enzo and one between Moises [Caicedo]and Romeo [Lavia]. When Enzo moves we struggle in the middle with physicality. In this moment, Moises and Romeo give us this.”
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On Nicolas Jackson’s fine form: “We are very happy because Nico is helping us, not just in terms of numbers but in the way we want to play. The way he links with his team-mates is helping us in our process. When he drops he gives us an extra man. When he attacks in behind, he is quick and can score goals.”
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Maresca does not believe his team rely on counter-attacks: “It’s not for me whether we need to play slow or fast. It depends on the game. We have players in wide areas that can attack quick but I’ve said many times, the problem when you attack quick is they attack quick, then it becomes like against Newcastle – up and down.”
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