Maresca has already experienced London derbies in the Chelsea dugout, beating West Ham United 3-0 on a great afternoon at the London Stadium and drawing 1-1 with Arsenal and Crystal Palace already this season, but Sunday will see him face Spurs for the first time as a senior head coach.

The Italian may not have experienced the Chelsea-Spurs derby first-hand yet, but he is well aware of what the rivalry means to our fans.

Maresca said: 'Hopefully we can give our fans a big day and they will enjoy it. We will prepare for the game thinking this will be a big game because it is a derby and it is Tottenham but, at the end, three points against Southampton, three points against Aston Villa or three points against Tottenham, the number of points are exactly the same. But we are completely aware how important Sunday's game is.'

Chelsea Academy graduates like Levi Colwill and former Spurs youngster Noni Madueke have grown up knowing about the passion of the rivalry.

Maresca rejected the notion his players might need to be more aggressive or have an edge on Sunday afternoon, stating: 'No, we don't change the way we want to be aggressive in defence'. High-energy pressing has been a hallmark of his Chelsea side thus far.

The Italian also highlighted that in the era of multi-national squads, many of his players will not have to be concerned about letting their emotions get the better of them.

'I know we have many English players but most of them also come from abroad and maybe are not aware about the derby and these kind of things,' he said. 'The only thing we can try to make sure is they are focused and they give everything.'

This will be the first time Maresca comes up against Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou, although the pair did spend some time together after Leicester City's pre-season friendly with Spurs in the summer of 2023 was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.

The north London club finished fifth last season, three points above Chelsea, to secure a Europa League spot, but are currently in 10th position, eight points below the second-placed Blues.

Maresca was asked about Postecoglou by journalists on Friday afternoon and replied: 'I think Ange has been doing well since last year. They are playing in a European competition this year so that means they finished well last season. There are some moments where you get more results or less results, but overall I think he is doing well.'

The question came because Spurs have enjoyed mixed results of late. While there have been 4-0 and 2-1 victories over Manchester City, plus a 4-1 win over Aston Villa, there have also been defeats to Galatasaray, Ipswich Town and Thursday night's 1-0 loss to Bournemouth.

It was put to Maresca that maybe he had been focusing more on the wins over Manchester City, rather than this week's defeat to Bournemouth, during his pre-match work with the Blues squad.

However, Maresca explained: 'We will pay attention to both games. We will see why they were good against Manchester City and the reasons why they lost on Thursday night, but overall we try to watch all of the games and try to understand why they were good in a game or why they were not good enough.'

So 'has he seen some things he might want to take advantage of?' - came the question from one journalist.

After a brief pause and a chuckle, Maresca - clearly wary of giving anything away - thoughtfully replied: 'They are a very good team and it will be a tough, tough game for sure.'

Of that, there is no doubt.