Fernandez has not started either of our league fixtures since last month’s international break, instead skippering the side away to Panathinaikos and Newcastle in cup competitions. The Argentinean came off the bench during the second half of the league games against Liverpool and Newcastle.

This is the first time since signing in January 2023 that a fully-fit Fernandez has not been a guaranteed name on the Chelsea teamsheet. With that in mind, Maresca gave his full backing to Fernandez when journalists asked about him at his media conference at Cobham this afternoon.

‘I still trust Enzo,’ the head coach stated.

‘There is not any reason in the world I can lose confidence in him. The reason why he is not playing in the Premier League is because at this moment I take a different decision. My confidence is 100 per cent with Enzo.

‘In this moment, I know you are looking for some different reasons for Enzo [not starting], but it’s very simple. He’s not playing in this moment, we have so many games, he’s going to play for sure in the future. And it doesn’t mean Romeo and Moi are always going to play. At the moment one of them drops [their levels], probably we will change it.

‘It’s a matter of balance,’ Maresca continued. ‘Romeo and Moi give us physicality and strength in the middle. This is why we found the option of Malo [Gusto] in the pocket. Otherwise, when we play with Enzo it has to be with one of Moi or Romeo, and Enzo moves forward we struggle in the middle for physicality.

‘At the moment that’s something Moi and Romeo give us, but it doesn’t mean for one game we can’t play with Joao [Felix] and Cole [Palmer] in the pocket. It depends on the game.’

Maresca mentions Gusto there and he expanded on the complex role the Frenchman is fulfilling at the moment.

He started at left-back at Anfield, and then right-back in the win over Newcastle, but on both occasions spent much of the game in the middle of the pitch bolstering our midfield. He could even be seen popping up on the edge of the box and going for goal.

‘We think with Malo there playing as a 10 we can cause problems to the opponent. He is doing fantastic.

‘Malo is helping us a lot in terms of process because he is playing as a holding midfielder, he is playing in the pocket, he is playing at some moments as a central midfielder. For sure Malo is doing well and he is going to continue in that way.’

One of the other excitements of watching this Chelsea team is the variety of ways we can hurt the opposition.

Today one journalist asked Maresca how he finds the balance between his team attacking with speed – and the risks that brings – and opting for a more patient approach that grinds the opposition down.

‘It’s not about playing slow or playing fast,’ he replied.

‘The Brighton game, we attacked quick because the space was in between. We didn’t plan the same game against Nottingham Forest when they sit back.

‘For sure we have players in the wide areas or up front who can attack quick. The problem is when you attack quick, they are going to attack quick, and then it becomes like the Newcastle game: up and down, up and down. In terms of physicality, it’s much better for them than us.

‘Probably the reason why we score many goals in the second half – it happened the same at Leicester last year – is probably because we touch, touch, touch [the ball], and they run, run, run. They cannot maintain that for 95 minutes. The second half they start to drop and that’s the moment we create more chances and score goals.’