Chelsea got a win against Burnley at Turf Moor today, but there’s a sense that was despite what their striker was offering them rather than because of it.

Liam Delap had a poor game – one really nice moment where he rolled a defender and played in Pedro Neto only made up for an earlier chance where he shot instead of squaring. Despite his usual enthusiastic running, he caused Burnley few problems.

He also failed to really unlock Joao Pedro by allowing him to drop deeper into the hole. Neither player are delivering what we hoped at this stage.

After Marc Guiu’s impressive assist for Chelsea’s second, there were plenty online saying they wanted the Spaniard starting ahead of Delap next time.

Maresca backs Delap to bag first Premier League goal for Chelsea soon

Liam Delap in a physical battle. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Image)

Enzo Maresca was asked about Delap post game, and backed him to get his first for the Blues sooner rather than later with this advice:

“Be patient, no doubt that the goal will arrive and the way he worked today was very important. Liam is also that kind of striker that you as a defender are always worried when he’s around you, so that’s also good for the team.”

It seems like Maresca is a big fan of Delap’s industry even when he’s not scoring, and we don’t expect the former Ipswich man to be losing his place anytime soon.

Next week’s games against Arsenal and Barcelona would be a great time to announce his return…

In Andrey Santos news…

Andrey Santos was man of the match in the win against Burnley, and Maresca spoke about him in the same presser.

Maresca also had big praise for Santos when speaking to TNT Sport post game, praising many of the positive things about the way the Brazilian played.