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The full transcript from Enzo Maresca's pre-Bournemouth press conference with Chelsea taking on the Cherries for the second time in the space of a month on Tuesday night
Enzo Maresca took his pre-Bournemouth press conference on Saturday evening in the immediate aftermath of Chelsea's 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
The Blues threw away a one-goal lead to Villa at Stamford Bridge but have the opportunity to respond on Tuesday evening as they take on the Cherries for the second time in the space of a month. Maresca has previewed the match at Stamford Bridge - and here is every word the head coach had to say:
How important is it for this Chelsea team to end the year on a high?
Absolutely very important. It becomes very important to finish the year in the best way. Again, for sure it will be another tough game because they are all the same, but we need to win games as soon as possible.
Wesley Fofana okay?
It's just to manage his fitness condition.
How do you see Reece James' growth this season?
Again, he's doing very good, no matter which position he's playing, I think he's helping a lot. After the effort from tonight, we need to see how he is for Tuesday, but again, we are happy that he's fit.
Would experience help in the sort of situation like we saw vs Villa?
Again, I don't know, it's just a matter to understand the reason why, because I don't think it's random, when something continues to happen, it's not random. So we need to understand why, no matter if we are winning, drawing or losing, we concede a goal, we lose a little bit of control. So we need to understand the reason why.
Is that something you need to reflect on in how you use the subs, or is it more maybe something you need to tell the substitutes or talk to them?
No, I think it's in general.
Would Cole Palmer and Reece James, in theory, be able to start the Bournemouth game with their load?
We need to see how they are tomorrow [Sunday], and then we can decide.
Becoming harder to deny a discipline problem?
Again, we need to analyse every yellow card, but I didn't have tonight the feeling that there was a disciplinary problem.
Hato fit for Bournemouth?
I don't think so, no, I don't think so.
How difficult will it be to qualify for CL football?
Yeah, in this moment it's the target. I think tonight's game doesn't reflect the 10 points difference between us and Villa, to be honest. So we need to be confident and we need to think that hopefully we can go close again to the ones that are ahead of us.
Any positives to take from Villa loss?
I think for one hour we can take many positive things. Not many teams create so many chances against them. They just said to me that in the first half they were 0.0.0 in terms of xG, they didn't create nothing. And I watched Arsenal's game, the game they won, and they always create [chances]. Again, these are many positive things, but for sure we need to understand how to manage better when we concede goals.
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