Stamford Bridge was rocking from the first whistle and the atmosphere was helped by Enzo Fernandez giving us the lead inside three minutes on Sunday afternoon.

Blues pressure early in the second period led to a Jarell Quansah own-goal and whilst Virgil Van Dijk pulled one back with five minutes remaining, we were relatively comfortable on our way to victory and a deserved win was rounding off deep into injury-time when Cole Palmer converted from the penalty spot.

The result means Chelsea have won our last four matches in all competitions and Maresca was asked about the big celebrations of his staff at the end of the game and also the importance of the result on the Blues' momentum heading into the final fixtures of the season.

He said: ‘They are all going to be tough games but you have to go game-by-game. The reason why the coaching staff were so happy – and so were the fans – is because at this stage of the season, you need to win games.

‘For sure, today’s environment was the best environment of the season with our fans. This is what we need every game. They were fantastic, it was so good.’

This afternoon's game was a rare occasion where the opposition enjoyed more of the possession but it was Chelsea who created the better chances, and more often, as we regularly hit Liverpool on the counter-attack from a deeper defensive position.

‘Today Liverpool again showed the reason they won the Premier League,' Maresca started. 'I promise you we did not plan the game to defend deep, we planned the game to high press in the way we always do, but sometimes the other team is so good that you have to defend deep, you have to adapt and the players dealt with that very well.’

The race for the five Champions League places remains incredibly tight after another interesting weekend of results.

The top two - Liverpool and Arsenal - both lost this weekend, Newcastle United needed a last-gasp penalty to draw with Brighton & Hove Albion earlier today, while Manchester City and Aston Villa both recorded 1-0 wins to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham respectively.

It means just seven points separate Nottingham Forest and Villa in sixth and seventh and the Gunners in third.

Chelsea are currently in fifth position, three points above Nottingham Forest who play Crystal Palace tomorrow in their game in hand. We are level on points - and goal difference - with fourth-place Newcastle and only one point below Manchester City in third, with Arsenal just four points above us in second.

Maresca said: ‘My feeling is that – and I have had this already for a long time from when you work with the players everyday – they are all on the same page and heading in the same direction, in terms of how we want to play but also in terms of creating the right culture. It is so important.’

The Italian also provided an update on Christopher Nkunku, who missed out again today after suffering an injury in training earlier this week.

He said: ‘Christo will be out for I think one week or two weeks, we are not sure. We will see. He will be out for the next ten to 15 days.’

Westview tickets for the home leg of our UEFA Conference League semi-final are on sale for £60pp, available exclusively to CFC Members. Hospitality packages are available on general sale here, starting from £160pp.