'Worst 48 hours since I joined the club!' - Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca launches into bizarre rant after Everton victory as he claims 'people didn't support me' at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea returned to winning ways with a comfortable victory over Everton at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have been on a difficult recent run, suffering defeats to Leeds and Atalanta and behind held to a draw by Bournemouth. The result will be a big boost for Maresca and Chelsea, but the 45-year-old did not seem particularly happy afterwards when he spoke to the media. The Blues boss was asked about Gusto's performance, with the defender scoring Chelsea's second goal, and launched into a bizarre rant.

He told reporters: "This is the reason why I praise the players because with so many problems they are doing very well after a complicated week. Since I joined the club the last 48 hours has been the worst 48 hours since I joined the club because many people didn’t support us. So very happy for Malo in that moment that the effort from Malo and the rest showed that they are all there and want to help this club.”

Maresca was quizzed further on what he meant and added: “Worst 48 hours since I joined the club because people didn’t support me and the team.” The Chelsea also boss was then asked if the issue was an internal problem or related to supporters and explained: "In general. I love the fans and I am very happy with the fans.”

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Palmer was also on target for Chelsea, scoring his first goal since September after returning from injury, and earned praise from his manager for his performance. 

"We’ve dropped points in the last week, so it was important to get the win. We knew it would be a difficult game but I thought we did very well and completely deserved to win the game. The effort from the players today was top and it was a good, important victory as I said," he said. 

"I’m very happy for Cole [to score] and as I’ve said many times before, we are a better team with him in the side," he said. "But I really want to praise all the players and the squad, because we’ve had a lot of games recently. We’ve also played five games without Moi [Caicedo], 11 without Cole and almost all the games without Liam [Delap].

"There are important players for us and I’m sure people can appreciate that. It’s very important for Cole and hopefully it will give him a boost. Today was also important for all the players and the fans too. We are very happy with the result. Cole needs to be fit and that’s why we will manage him carefully. Hopefully we can keep him fit, that’s the most important thing, and hopefully he can be a help to us going forward. The effort is there from the players, you can see that. Reece and Malo are both full-backs but today, they both played as midfielders They caused many problems in the offensive areas. I’m very happy for Malo in that moment to score, he deserved his goal but I’m also happy for the team overall, for the performance we put in today. Now we must build on it."

Chelsea still have four games to play before the end of the calendar year, starting on Tuesday with a Carabao Cup quarter-final tie at Cardiff City. The Blues then finish off 2025 with Premier League fixtures against Newcastle, Aston Villa and Bournemouth.