But Maresca was quick to highlight there is still a lot of work to do when it comes to getting this Chelsea team to where he wants it to be.

A brace from Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer’s stunning third against West Ham United meant the Blues temporarily moved into second place, ahead of the rest of the Premier League taking to the field this weekend.

The Italian has won all three of his away matches in the Premier League so far, with an aggregate score of 10-2 and consecutive clean sheets. Understandably, he was ‘very happy’ as he started to answer the media’s questions.

However, the 44-year-old was quick to recognise there were areas of improvement at the London Stadium. West Ham had a goal ruled out for offside, Robert Sanchez was forced to make saves and there were last-ditch blocks from the likes of Levi Colwill, and the Blues did not control proceedings, especially in the first half, in the way he would like.

Maresca explained: ‘The results and the points are always important in our business but the main thing for me in this moment is to see how we progress as a team.

‘We are improving many things, even if today we could have attacked better, we could have defended better and especially we could have managed the game much, much better. Sometimes we need to make more passes and keep the ball, and we are in a rush and want to attack immediately. But overall I think we deserved to win the game.’

He later added: ‘We are on the right path, going in the right direction, but this is a long journey.

‘Because we won today and we are in a good moment, it looks like everything is fine but not everything is fine. We can attack better and we can defend better but it is just a matter of time.

‘I said at the beginning about how the most important thing is how the players bought into working together.’

Maresca was referring to his previous answer when asked what had been key to Chelsea’s positive start since he took charge just over two-and-a-half months ago.

‘There are many things, to be honest,’ he had said. ‘The way the players are buying into the idea or the different style since I have arrived has been top. Also, the way we are working off the ball.

‘Today’s performance from Nicolas and Cole was top. Not only because they scored but we prepared the game for three-versus-two [when West Ham were in possession] because they build with three players and we accepted that so the way they worked off the ball was top.

‘If we understand that we need that, the behaviour and the desire, then we can build something important.’