The Blues enjoyed two-thirds of possession at Stamford Bridge and had 17 attempts at goal compared to Forest’s ten.

Both goalkeepers produced outstanding stops to help their team secure a point and Maresca was pleased with the performance, especially considering the visitors’ defensive line was noticeably deeper than that of Brighton & Hove Albion, who we beat 4-2 last week, and became even deeper still following James Ward-Prowse’s red card on 78 minutes.

Maresca said: ‘In the first 45 minutes, we didn’t concede anything, we controlled the game, we created chances and the performance was very good because you can become frustrated against this kind of team.

‘Compared to Brighton, it was a completed different kind of game so you have to learn how to play.

‘In the first half, it was top. In the second half, we conceded the goal and it became a bit more up and down. But we scored immediately, and I think we were in control.

‘With the red card, most of the time we think 11 against ten is easier but probably today it was more difficult because they were with a line of five with more players inside the box defending. Then you take the risk of doing balls and you concede the counter-attack or set pieces, and they are very strong [at set-pieces].

‘But overall the performance was very good and we deserved to win the game.’

The second half saw an altercation between both sets of players after a trip on Marc Cucurella resulted in the full-back clattering into Maresca on the touchline.

It resulted in a few yellow cards for the Blues, who ended up with six bookings during the afternoon.

Maresca was asked if he was concerned we had a disciplinary problem, however, our head coach explained: ‘The team is fighting all together and I don’t think some of them ‘lost their head’. I think all of them were in the game and I was happy with that.’

He continued: ‘Probably there are things we can improve but overall I like the team and the way they are fighting. I like the team, the way they are becoming a team in these kinds of things and I don’t see any problems with that.’

‘If you ask me about the team spirit, the way they are fighting together and the way they are doing things together, I am very happy with that,’ he added.

During the second half, Maresca was interacting with the fans as he called for more support from the Stamford Bridge faithful, who duly delivered and ramped the volume up even further.

‘‘The fans today were unbelievable today,’ he said, when asked about his gestures to the crowd. ‘I thought in that moment we needed a little bit more but today the fans were top.’