The Blues saw off the Toffees at Stamford Bridge courtesy of first-half strikes from Cole Palmer – back in the side after missing the midweek trip to Atalanta – and Malo Gusto, with the three points ensuring we moved four points clear of our opponents.

The victory was much welcomed following a hectic period in recent weeks, with defeats to Atalanta and Leeds coming either side of a goalless draw with Leeds. Asked about his view of his side’s performance in his post-match press conference, our head coach highlighted just how important the three points were.

‘We’re very happy and this was a very important win for us,’ Maresca stated after the game.

‘Everton have been on a good run in recent weeks and came here in good form. We’ve dropped points in the last week, so it was important to get the win.

‘We knew it would be a difficult game but I thought we did very well and completely deserved to win the game. The effort from the players today was top and it was a good, important victory as I said.’

Palmer opened the scoring midway through the first half with a trademark finish, sweeping home after being fed in by a fine Gusto pass. The Frenchman would then double our lead with a goal of his own just before the half-time whistle blew.

The head coach was delighted with the impact of his two goalscorers but also praised the overall team performance, highlighting the response given our recent tough run of fixtures.

‘I’m very happy for Cole [to score] and as I’ve said many times before, we are a better team with him in the side,’ added Enzo.

‘But I really want to praise all the players and the squad, because we’ve had a lot of games recently. We’ve also played five games without Moi [Caicedo], 11 without Cole and almost all the games without Liam [Delap].

‘There are important players for us and I’m sure people can appreciate that. It’s very important for Cole and hopefully it will give him a boost. Today was also important for all the players and the fans too. We are very happy with the result.

‘Cole needs to be fit and that’s why we will manage him carefully. Hopefully we can keep him fit, that’s the most important thing, and hopefully he can be a help to us going forward.

‘The effort is there from the players, you can see that. Reece and Malo are both full-backs but today, they both played as midfielders They caused many problems in the offensive areas.

‘I’m very happy for Malo in that moment to score, he deserved his goal but I’m also happy for the team overall, for the performance we put in today. Now we must build on it.’