Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was satisfied with his team's draw with Everton despite it ending their eight-match winning streak on Sunday.
Despite their run of victories coming to a halt, Maresca oddly claimed he was happier after this match than after their last Premier League outing - a win against Brentford.
Everton's robust defence, which Maresca highlighted as one of Europe's top five for clean sheets, posed a significant challenge for the Blues who couldn't break through. "I’m absolutely happy," the Chelsea manager said.
"I just said to the players that I’m more happy today than the Brentford game. The reason why is because I was quite worried about this game. It was a tricky game, tricky stadium, tricky team, they are defensively top.
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"They are one of the five best team in Europe in terms of clean sheets, so you struggle to create chances against them and it was not an easy game.
"You have to deal and you have to learn to play different games. You know, long ball, second ball, the channels, set pieces.
"It’s also how you defend and I’m very proud of that and, like I said, I’m more happy today than for Brentford.
"We prepare every game to win, but sometimes there is also another team there that try to do the same, so we are happy today."
The Chelsea boss also lauded Tosin Adarabioyo for his crucial intervention to deny Iliman Ndiaye a goal. "Tosin was very good," he commended.
"All the players defensively, I thought we were very good, so I’m happy for them and for the clean sheet."
With Christmas approaching and Chelsea sitting second in the table, Maresca concluded on a positive note: "We arrive at the Christmas moment second in the table, so we are happy."
