Fofana started the match at right-back at the London Stadium, filling in for the absent Reece James and Malo Gusto, and did so admirably.

It was an impressive performance all around from the Blues as we secured a 3-0 Premier League victory over West Ham, thanks to Nicolas Jackson’s first-half brace and a Cole Palmer goal.

While a lot of the attention was understandably on the attacking end of the team, given the scoreline in this capital derby, Maresca also had praise for the French defender.

Our head coach is especially impressed by the way Fofana has seamlessly returned to action after missing last season, as shown by the fact he has started all five of our league fixtures so far in 2024/25.

‘Wes is a player that I really love, I am in love with Wes!’ said Maresca after the win over West Ham.

‘He is doing fantastic after one year injured and, for any player in the world, when you are out for one year and then you come back it is not easy, and he is doing top. This is the only thing we want from him.’

Fofana was substituted after an hour at West Ham, to be replaced by fellow Frenchman Axel Disasi, but Maresca was also quick to ease any fears that was a result of an injury.

‘It’s nothing serious,’ he insisted. ‘The reason why we changed him was because we try to protect him a little bit and also he was on a yellow card.

‘In the second half they changed [Mohammed] Kudus to his side and probably it was a big risk to keep him, but there is not any injury.’