Every word Enzo Maresca said on Chelsea owners backing him, Santos admission and Lavia update

There is no time for Chelsea to sit back and feel sorry for themselves after a poor performance against Legia Warsaw on Thursday evening. Instead, the Blues' attention has already turned to Sunday afternoon and a west London derby against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Enzo Maresca's side make the short trip to their neighbours at the weekend with just six matches of the Premier League season left to play. Three points is an absolute must if Chelsea are to continue their pursuit of qualifying for the Champions League next season. Here is every word Maresca had to say ahead of the game:

What advice are you giving Cole Palmer at the moment, as he goes through a tougher spell maybe that he's not used to, in terms of getting back to those kinds of numbers?

"It's the first moment for Cole when he's struggled in general. The only thing he has to, because he's so good, he has to continue working hard, because for sure very soon he's going to start scoring goals for us. They just told me that in the first 20 Premier League games, he scored, I think, 14 goals. So to score 14 goals in 20 games is a huge number, a fantastic number.

"Now it's a moment for him where he's struggled, but he has to continue because for sure he's going to score goals very soon."

What do you think the reasons are for maybe some of the struggles recently?

"No, I think there are different reasons why. For sure, a moment where you struggle is part of their career, their process, their season. Last year he had a fantastic season. This season we said many times that the way the team approaches him is in a different way. Most of the time he's being marked man to man. That is more difficult for any player in the world.

"But even with that, he scored 14 goals in 20 games, the first 20 games. So for me it's just a matter of a bad moment, and in the moment that he's able to score a goal, it will probably change again."

Is Romeo Lavia fit for Fulham? How important is he?

"Romeo is back. He's training with us and he can be available for Sunday. With him, we're going to try the same thing that we are trying with Reece [James]. I would like to play Reece every three days, but we are trying to manage him, to help him. And as I said, exactly the same thing we are going to try to do with Romeo because he is for us an important player."

How impressed with Marc Cucurella are you?

"He's doing fantastic. He scores goals, but not only goals. He's helping the team to play the way we want to play. When we need to defend, he's very aggressive off the ball. I said, if Cucu is the one that is scoring more goals for us in this moment, we need to be worried. Hopefully, we can have our offensive player that they can start to score goals very soon."

You rested Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez today. Do you think you need maybe one more midfielder if Lavia can't prove his fitness in the long term, maybe next season? Is Andrey Santos the man?

"We rest Enzo, we arrest Moi, we rest Levi [Colwill], we rest Trev [Chalobah], we rest Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto], we rest many players. That's why I said that for sure we are not happy about the result, the Conference League result. But at the same time, we try to manage it to be the first result and to rotate players.

"Now, we know that Andrey is doing well. But in this moment, we are just focused about how we finish this season. And then when we finish this season, we're going to start to think about next season."

On Reece James' brutally honest interview, is that the kind of leadership Chelsea need?

"Absolutely, absolutely, yes. He's in charge of that, he's one of the captains. And as I said before, I think probably in part he was right in terms of because of the first result we tried to manage in the wrong way. And probably he's right in what he said. He sort of takes us inside the change room."

Is he like that in there, just being honest with everyone?

"Exactly, if you remember at the beginning of the season, I complained a little bit with him in terms of leadership. But my target was just this one, to try to get more from him. And now he's doing well also in terms of leadership."

Have you got any concern that playing Cole and Nico and players like that tonight and not getting the result could have an impact on Sunday?

"No. No doubt that using them tonight is to build a little bit the physical condition, but also to build mentally a little bit, because they struggle to score in this moment. So to give them 45 minutes, one hour, it's also a chance to see if they can score and they can go again. And when they don't score, for sure I'm worried."

Do you think you can achieve your target this season if Palmer and Jackson do not start scoring?

"No."

Simple as that?

"Yeah."

So how confident are you that they will?

"No, confident because they scored goals. They have scored goals. It's just a moment that they need to turn a little bit that moment. But I said before, Cole scored 14 goals in 20 Premier League games. So he scored goals. Nico was the same before the injury. Now, unfortunately, Nico was out for two months, so probably physicality needs a little bit more. And this is the same for Cole."

Do you think Chelsea need a leader-type character in the group?

"For sure you need that, 100%. Now, if you don't have, you need to build also a leadership. And this is the reason why I said at the beginning I was trying to complain a little bit about Reece, because I want more from him. And he's doing more. So when you don't have a leader, at least you have to try to build some leader.

"And in this moment, Reece is doing well. We have two, three more players that they are making the effort to help the rest. But for sure, when you have a real leader, it's much better to manage different problems during the season."

So it's very much focusing on building a leader internally rather than looking outside for a leader?

"Yeah, in this moment, during the season, we didn't have time to go for... So in this moment, the ones that we have, OK, which one they can be, become a leader. Or they can improve. Because at the end, if you are not a leader, you cannot become suddenly a leader. But you can improve a little bit. It's what we are trying to do with some of them."

Do you still feel the unwavering support from the owners and sporting directors?

"Yeah, absolutely, yes."

And how reassuring is that when perhaps the fans are sort of saying other things, but you've got the support from the people that matter?

"I tried to explain yesterday. We cannot change the idea the day after. I said yesterday, and if I need I'll say it again. In the last two years, Chelsea has been zero times top four, top five. This season we spent all season, almost all season, top four, top five, Champions League spots.

"We are in a semi-final of a European competition. So why now we need to change something? I think I don't have any doubt about what we are doing, in the way we are doing, and for different reasons. We had some bad moments or some setbacks, like tonight, during the season, for sure. But this, for me, makes us stronger for the future."

And you feel that from the top as well?

"Yeah, absolutely, yes, no doubt."

Have you challenged Jadon Sancho to play for his future at Chelsea? He's improved recently...

"No, the only thing we said to Jadon, but all our offensive players, is that we need more, in terms of numbers, goal and assist. So Jadon, as you said in the last games, is doing better. But we need goal and assist from Nico, from Cole, from Noni, from Pedro, from Enzo, who is doing well, from the ones that arrived in the opposite box."

Will it be an end-of-season decision on Sancho's future?

"Yeah, it's the same about Andrey Santos. In this moment, I'm not thinking at all about next year or the players that can be here next year. I'm just thinking how we can get the best from them to finish the season very strong."

Is this a bad time to play a London derby for Chelsea?

"No, no, in this moment, there is no bad time. In this moment, there is only a right time to play any game. We have six Premier League games, plus the two semi-final games. So at the moment, we have eight official games to play and all of them is a good time to play."

"It's all important, we cannot decide in which moment we... Now is the moment to go if we want to reach something."

Do you worry about them, how they might do in the atmosphere of a Fulham, noisy and lively?

"Yes, I think we are talking about fans. But when you play at Chelsea, Chelsea is a big club, it's a huge club, one of the biggest clubs in the world. So it's normal that you have pressure. In the moment that you decide to sign for Chelsea, you have to think that you are under pressure. Because it's Chelsea, it's a huge club, it's a big club. It's the same for the manager, no doubt. So if we have a game away and we have to be worried about that, probably we are in the wrong way."