Every word Enzo Maresca said on Chelsea title race, James return, transfers, Lavia injury blow

In the aftermath of Chelsea's 5-1 win against Shamrock Rovers on Thursday night, Enzo Maresca previewed this weekend's meeting with Everton at Goodison Park.

The Blues can go top of the Premier League this weekend, at least temporarily with a victory on Merseyside, with Liverpool playing later in the afternoon against Tottenham. Maresca, unsurprisingly, was asked plenty about the title race and the head coach also provided updates on a few of Chelsea's injured players.

Here is every word the Italian said ahead of Sunday's match...

Chelsea can go top, pressure on your players?

"No, I don't think so, I don't think so. First of all, because we try to focus on the game, not on the consequence of the game that can be the leader for a few hours.

"This is the first reason. And then since we started, I'm trying to convince the players just to be focused on the game plan, how we can beat them, how we can do the right things, no more than that. So I don't think that they can have some pressure about the consequences of the win. Because first of all, you have to win."

No European football until March. Is it hard to keep the squad happy?

"Personally, I'm not worried about the next three months, if the player are happy or not. The only thing I can say is that we have many games, and if they do the right things, if they work properly, for sure, they are all going to have chances to play games."

Difficult to fit everybody into that plan though?

"For instance, next week we have three games, so we continue to play many games, and then in January, the FA Cup will start. I don't know. Sunday is the game. Game by game, we will choose the best 11, the ones that we think are the right ones for the game, and then we see."

Any Mykhailo Mudryk update?

"No. Nothing."

Chelsea have a bad record at Everton...

"No, it's something that I didn't know, to be honest. Hopefully we can go there and beat them. For sure, it will be a tough game, but we're going to try to prepare for the game in the best way we can.

"The target is always the same: prepare the game to win the game and then we see. Everton’s stadium is not tough only for Chelsea. It’s tough for any club."

Can you put pressure on Liverpool?

"I don’t know if we win that they take it like pressure. It's more of a question for them. We’re going to try to prepare the game to win the game, like always, and then if we win and we put pressure to them, I don't know. In that case they have two games in hand, so I don't think it's pressure for them, but it's more question for them, I don't know."

Injury news?

"Joao [Felix] is back, you saw Joao. Romeo [Lavia] probably will struggle to play Sunday. We will see. It depends. And then the rest are all clear."

Madueke came off at half-time, planned or injury?

"It was planned for Noni."

Reece James update?

"Reece finally tomorrow will start with us for part of the session, so slowly, slowly, he will be back. That doesn’t mean he is going to be with us on Sunday or next Sunday.

"Just tomorrow. The plan for him tomorrow is to be with the team for part of the session and from there to try to build the right condition for him and then finally he can be back with us."

Will there be an unhappy camp now there is no European football?

"There are players who unfortunately didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions, like [Ben] Chilwell, like Carney [Chukwuemeka], and probably they are the first who want to leave because they work every day, they train every day, because they want to play games. And if they don’t play games, probably they are thinking to leave.

"But then we will see. With each player, it’s a different situation. So we’re going to see if some of them come knock on my door to say they want to leave, but it depends. We try to find a solution."

What's the latest on Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana?

"Both they are still out and both will still be out for a long period."

So they won’t be back before January?

"Yeah."

Will Everton's new owners be a boost for Everton on Sunday?

"When I met the owners, like at Leicester or here, I just tried to be myself, honest with them, to be clear since the first meeting we had and no more than that."

Tell us the secret to your success...

"For sure the players, you can coach them in the way you want but if they are not open minded or if they don’t understand what I require, it’s complicated. First of all it’s them. And then a mix of things, the club, the coaching staff, the players. It's important that we all share the same vision which sometimes is not easy."

Marc Guiu staying in January?

"With young players like Marc [Guiu], like Josh [Acheampong], like Tyrique [George], for me, the best thing for them is to be with us because they can understand every day the way we want to play, they can grow, we can teach them how we want them to play.

"So I think it's better if they stay with us. But then it depends a little on the desire of the players. If in this case, Marc’s desire is to get more minutes and to play more, then we see we sit with him and we will decide to together."