Speaking ahead of this evening's Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge, Maresca discussed how the Blues can get back to winning ways in that competition after beginning the year with back-to-back draws against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth.

One suggestion put to him in his pre-match press conference was that his players could be more clinical in converting chances.

Although the Italian was quick to point out that before this weekend's fixtures only two teams had scored more than Chelsea's 41 goals in the Premier League this season - Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur - he conceded a higher conversion rate will always lead to better results, even if he doesn't believe that responsibility should rest solely on the shoulders of Nicolas Jackson and our strikers.

'We have the third-best attack in the Premier League, so we score many goals, but the way the team is playing we can score more goals,' he admitted.

'It is not about just Nico. Probably in terms of wingers we can score more goals for the amount of times that we arrive and put our wingers in positions one-v-one in the box, like Pedro [Neto] and Jadon [Sancho]. Hopefully they can start soon to score goals.

'The important thing is that they arrive there in every game. In the last game against Bournemouth, Jadon and Noni [Madueke] arrived one-v-one inside the box many times. If we are clinical for sure it is better for the team, so if we can have our attacking players, our wingers, being more clinical it will be good.'

One of those aforementioned wingers Maresca would like to see chipping in with more goals is Neto, who our head coach confirmed is available to return to the line-up against Wolves following illness.

However, despite Enzo being happy with his performances, it is not a given the Portuguese international will start against his former club, with the competition for a place in the team between him and Madueke providing a difficult but welcome dilemma for the Blues boss.

'For me Pedro is doing fantastic,' Maresca continued. 'Probably in terms of goals and assists he can do better, but he is playing almost every game. He has to compete with Noni and they are both very good players. The reason why the last game he was on the bench is that for three days in a row he had a fever with a virus and didn’t train with us the day before.

'At the moment he’s good, he’s fit, he just has to compete with Noni, but sometimes we also play with both. I’m very happy with the way Pedro’s going, he’s competing well with Noni. Pedro scored against Arsenal then played a fantastic game against Tottenham. Then he got five yellow cards so he didn’t play against Brentford, when Noni played fantastic.

'I think it’s good, we need both players. They compete with each other and they help us. If one plays from the start and one plays ten minutes, we want to have the same intensity from both. I try to explain to them that from one game to the next the decision is different, probably the other one is going to play from the start. At the end, what we need from them is to win games, score and assist.'

Of course, that spot on the right wing is not the only area where there is strong competition within the squad for a place in Maresca's starting line-up. That includes the central role among our attacking midfielders, where Cole Palmer's form has left the likes of Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku needing to be patient for their chances, although they have featured alongside the England international on occasion.

Their next opportunity could arrive this evening, due to concerns over Palmer's availability after picking up a knock and missing training last week, but Enzo insists his decision is based as much on finding combinations between players that work well as it is on the individual ability of those involved.

'We have Cole, Joao and Christo there,' added our head coach. 'More or less they are similar players, so the important thing is that when they get the chance they take it in the right way.

'The game we decided to play with Cole and Joao it was because we think they can both help us. Joao is like Christo, unfortunately they didn’t get many minutes, but the moment they are on the pitch they are ready.

'It’s not just about having a good player and another good player next to each other in the team. If it doesn’t work with them both together then it’s not as good as two players that mixed together can be better. It’s not just about picking good players, you need to create a team, otherwise you struggle.'