It begins with Aston Villa's visit to Stamford Bridge tomorrow afternoon. It's an undoubted test. Unai Emery's side finished last season in the top four and were unfortunate to only draw with Italian giants Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Our European action took place 24 hours later in Germany. A heavily-altered Blues side had to work hard in Heidenheim, but our 2-0 victory was undoubtedly deserved. It was then straight back to Cobham to recover, refocus, and ready ourselves for Villa.

Maresca has confirmed changes will again be made to our starting XI against Villa – and that rotation policy has paid off thus far, with the Blues third in the Premier League table and top of the Conference League league phase. December will challenge the squad once again.

‘You have to adapt a little bit,' said the Blues head coach. 'With nine games in December, and not long between one game and another, we will spend even more time at the training ground...and we already spend a long time there!

'For me, the nice part of being a manager is spending time with the players, but also it's nice to see them improving, enjoying, winning games and being happy. It also helps you because when you win, you don't feel tired. The problem is when you don't [win].'

Maresca continued: 'Aston Villa played on Wednesday while we played on Thursday, and we didn't arrive back until Friday. So, for sure, we will change players and hopefully we can continue to do this all season. Imagine if we did not have the chance to change players, we arrive late and have only two days [to prepare]. That is not easy.

'And the strange thing is that Southampton play on Friday, we play [against Aston Villa] on Sunday, and then we play against Southampton on Wednesday. This is not something normal. We have two days after our Sunday game, they have four or five days. This is not normal, but we will try to prepare for the games in the best way and try to win.'

With 12 matches now complete in the Premier League, the Blues are well-placed in the table. There is room for improvement – a constant whenever Maresca discusses his side – but the Chelsea head coach is pleased with what he has seen during the opening months of the campaign.

‘For sure, in terms of our results and the way we want to play, we are above my expectations,' he said. 'The good thing is we are there [in the table] and will try to be there as much as possible. The important thing is we can add things, improve players, and improve as a team.

‘I still think Man City will be there, Arsenal will be there, Liverpool will be there. So there are not many spots. But we are going to compete in every game and then we will see where we are.’