Enzo Maresca names one thing academy kid did that he was very impressed by | OneFootball

Chelsea have just played their first game of the Premier League season, a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, and we can’t deny we were disappointed.

The Blues didn’t create nearly enough in attack, and were never going to beat an organised Crystal Palace without some really good attacking play and they didn’t have it.

Defence does its job thanks to impressive Acheampong

Josh Acheampong battles for the ball. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Still, even if the attack didn’t get the job done, the defence did, including youngster Josh Acheampong who had to come into the centre to compensate for injuries to Levi Colwill, Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile, adding to Wesley Fofana’s lack of fitness.

The youngster was given major praise by his coach:

“[He was] very good, very good. We already showed confidence on Josh last year. He played already some games. Today he did very well, he dealt with Mateta very well. So overall, he did a good game.”

Maresca on returning defenders

Acheampong may have done well, but that doesn’t mean we’re not desperate to get some of our defenders back. Right now we’re without 4 of our 6 best options in that position.

Maresca was also asked about when some of those others could be back:

“[Tosin] had a physical problem, we don’t know for how long [he will be out]. Wes [Fofana] was on the bench, but he was just on the bench to be with us. The plan was not to get any minutes. And now, hopefully for the next one, we can start to use Wes for more minutes.”

The answer on Tosin isn’t much use – it doesn’t make it clear if its going to be two days or two months. But it does seem like Fofana will be ready for games in a week or two.