The Chelsea squad returned from our summer tour of the USA in time to finish our pre-season schedule with a home friendly at the Bridge against Inter Milan, with Lesley Ugochukwu’s late equaliser securing a 1-1 draw with the Italian champions.

With the friendlies now over and the competitive action fast approaching, Enzo Maresca is happy with the way his team is shaping up on the pitch.

‘I’m very happy because I can see that the team is improving, on the ball and off the ball,’ said Maresca.

‘Once again today we created six or seven clear chances. We just scored one but it is important to create chances and for sure we are going to score more.

‘Then, apart from the goal we conceded when we did a small mistake, off the ball the team was very aggressive in recovery and closing down the ball.

‘Absolutely we can see clear results from our work. Today we could see that we tried to keep the ball. Inter are special at defending, but for sure the team is already doing well.

‘It’s the most important thing, for sure. With time this team is going to get better and better. We started just one month ago so I can see clearly that the team is improving.’

Today’s match was also his first experience of managing at Stamford Bridge, making his debut in the Chelsea dugout in SW6, as Maresca and our new players received a warm welcome from the Blues supporters in attendance.

‘I was very happy before the game and very happy now,’ he added. ‘The environment was good.

‘I’ve said many times we need to create that connection between the team and the fans, because especially at home we need the fans. They can be our 12th player and hopefully we can help them to give us a boost. The environment today was very good.’

There was even a new signing to welcome on the day, with Pedro Neto being introduced to the fans on the pitch at half-time after completing his transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

‘I’m very excited, he can offer many things. He can play on the right side, he can play on the left side, he’s very good one-on-one. It is one more option we have because there will be many, many games in the season, so we need a big squad.’

On the pitch, the late equaliser arrived after a prolonged spell of pressure by the Blues as the match went on, suggesting Maresca’s squad is in good shape physically at the end of pre-season. The Italian was pleased to be able to share playing time around against Inter, including for some of those who returned later from international commitments or have recently recovered from injury.

‘We tried to share minutes with all of them. At the end of the first half we changed four players, just to give some minutes to Cole [Palmer], Moi [Caicedo], all the players who need to get fit. Also for Nicolas [Jackson] it was the first time for him. Overall we are happy with the physical condition of the players.

‘We have Wes [Fofana], Romeo [Lavia] and Christo [Nkunku] available, all of them are fantastic players. Wes, I know he’s fantastic, it’s just a matter of being fit. Romeo I know very well from Man City and Christo is doing well, so I’m very happy.

‘Then we have players like Malo Gusto, who has already played three different positions since the start of pre-season, and Christo is the same. I think it’s very important to make them versatile, so they can play in different positions. It’s very important.’

It looks like Maresca’s squad is starting to take shape ahead of our opening Premier League fixture, back at the Bridge against Manchester City next weekend. However, our head coach insists he has not made his mind up about his starting XI for that game yet, with spots still up for grabs for the players.

‘I don’t know my team yet. Pre-season has been very tough, intense, many games going from one city to another city. Now finally we start a normal week. Tomorrow we are off and then we start to prepare the game.’