On Wednesday evening, Chelsea will try to bounce back from our added-time defeat at the hands of Sunderland in the weekend’s Premier League fixture at Stamford Bridge, when we travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

One of the few positives from that frustrating Saturday afternoon at the Bridge came from our early opening goal, which was also the first scored in a Chelsea shirt by Garnacho since his summer switch to west London from Manchester United.

Speaking before the trip to Wolves, Maresca explained he is pleased with the Argentine winger’s early performances, even if there is plenty more to come from him as he gets fully up to speed after arriving late in the transfer window.

‘Garna is doing well,’ said Enzo. ‘Garna is another player who we are trying to manage him a little bit physically, because he arrived here from United not 100 per cent in his physical condition.

‘He is working hard every day, he is getting better and better, and in this moment we are happy with the way he is playing.’

Our head coach also reiterated the faith he has in teenager Acheampong, who continues to go from strength to strength in the Chelsea defence, after making his fourth Premier League start of the season against Sunderland.

That is double the number he managed in the whole of 2024/25, and Maresca hopes he is beginning to feel at home in the senior team.

‘We are happy with the way he’s improving and the way he is working every day, but I have been since I arrived, to be honest.

‘If you look back, in the last season, in pre-season in the USA, he played 45 minutes of the first game. So since day one I really liked Josh.

‘So I hope he feels trusted and part of the group, more than what we are showing to him. It’s difficult to play in the Champions League and to play from the start in the Premier League, so we show him trust and confidence.’

Acheampong is one of six different players who have started a Premier League game at centre-back for the Blues this season and Maresca explained the reasoning behind the defensive rotation to his line-up.

‘The reason why we are trying to spread minutes and to rotate is first of all because we also need to manage players like Wes Fofana that is back from injury. Benoit [Badiashile] who unfortunately is injured again but we tried to manage him. Then we have Tosin [Adarabioyo] that this season he had a problem, Josh and Trev [Chalobah].

‘We are trying to rotate a little bit for many reasons, but for sure the moment that you have two central defenders – for instance last season we played the first five or six months with Wes and Levi [Colwill] – it’s good because of the combination and they can grow together.

‘But in this moment we are trying to rotate and for sure slowly, slowly we are getting better,’ Maresca concluded. ‘But consistency is always better in any aspect, for players, for the team, for anyone.’