Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insists he has no problem with Jadon Sancho's 'passion' and 'discipline' after flying start following Man Utd exit

Maresca was questioned over Sancho's discipline after seeing his deadline day signing booked for dissent early into his Chelsea career, however the Italian was adamant that he would rather see passion from his players than they show a 'lack of motivation'.

The Chelsea boss was also full of praise for Sancho's day-to-day conduct and believes the 24-year-old's display against Bournemouth was 'what we expected of him'.

Sancho was shown a yellow card on a night which saw referee Anthony Taylor hand out a Premier League record 14 bookings during Chelsea's 1-0 win at Bournemouth last weekend.

The forward, on loan from Manchester United, produced a game-changing display after coming on as a half-time substitute, with his creativity leading to Christopher Nkunku's winner.

Maresca said: “If a player comes and doesn’t look motivated or passionate, it’s a problem. Now a player comes and looks passionate and motivated, it’s a problem? It’s not a problem. It just shows his desire. I don’t think there was any kind of discipline problem in that game. Jadon showed what we expected from him.

“Not only in that 45 minutes, but also in the day by day, the way he is working, it’s fantastic. Hopefully it can continue in that way.”

Sancho will be hoping his impressive cameo against Bournemouth will net him a start when Chelsea travel to West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday, although the winger may still be eased into action as he continues to build his fitness.

The Blues are aiming to make it back-to-back away wins to build on an encouraging start for Maresca, who has won three of his first six games as Chelsea manager.