'Deal with it!' - Enzo Maresca sends out strong message to Chelsea after Blues drop points in disappointing draw against 'tricky' Everton

The Blues missed out on climbing to the top of the table on Sunday, albeit briefly, as they were held to a disappointing goalless draw by a resolute Everton side. Despite creating a few goalscoring opportunities in the first half, Chelsea failed to break the deadlock as their eight-game winning streak across all competitions came to an end.

After the game, manager Maresca sounded cautious as he sent out a strong message to his players. He urged them to learn from such difficult outings and adapt themselves according to the opposition and the conditions of matches. With Chelsea dropping points at Goodison Park and Liverpool thrashing Tottenham 6-3, Maresca's side will remain four points behind the league leaders on Christmas Day.

Speaking to reporters, the Italian coach said: "I was quite worried about this game. It’s a tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team. They are defensively top. You struggle to create chances against them. You have to deal with it and learn to play different games. Long balls, second balls, channels, set pieces. Football is not only about how good we play on the ball. It’s also about how you defend and deal with that. I’m very proud today.

"Today’s game was a completely different game compared to the rest. You have to learn. It’s not easy but the way they showed togetherness has been brilliant today."

He added: "In this kind of games, knowing you aren’t going to create many chances, you have to be clinical. In the first half, we had Nico one-on-one with the ’keeper, the post from Nico, another two or three chances inside the box. If you are able to be clinical there and score the game probably becomes completely different but until then you’re going to struggle."

The west London side will be next seen in action on Boxing Day in the Premier League as they take on Fulham at Stamford Bridge.