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ESPN pundit shares one major difference between Chelsea under Enzo Maresca and Mauricio Pochettino

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Chelsea impressed in their 3-0 victory against West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday.

It was Chelsea‘s third consecutive away win in the English top flight since the beginning of the new campaign, with Nicolas Jackson playing a vital role in it.

The striker scored two goals and also provided an assist. Jackson now has the record for earliest brace in a Premier League London derby as a Chelsea player.

Craig Burley, though, was impressed with Chelsea as a whole, not just Jackson.

West Ham United FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images

Craig Burley loving Chelsea’s style of play under Enzo Maresca

For Burley, Chelsea were too cautious at times under former manager Mauricio Pochettino and often had meaningless possession.

However, under Enzo Maresca, the former Chelsea player feels that the team are making more forward passes.

Speaking on ESPN FC after the Blues’ win against West Ham, Burley said: “The days of, at the moment, of Chelsea under [Thomas] Tuchel and certainly under Pochettino playing a bit more pedestrian, letting teams get bodies back, and having like, you know, 100 passes, he [Maresca] has changed that.

“It’s passes and then forward. It’s looking forward more often than not, and again, today [Saturday], they did that very, very well.”

Maresca claiming that victory over West Ham means that the 44-year-old is the first Premier League manager to win his first three away matches since Pep Guardiola in 2016.

Chelsea looking good under Enzo Maresca

Five games into the new Premier League campaign, and Chelsea fans will be happy with what they have seen from their team so far.

They have looked good under Maresca, especially going forward. Across the five matches that Maresca’s men have played, they have scored 11 goals, with almost half of them coming against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

That day, Noni Madueke bagged a hat-trick, so it is not just Jackson finding the back of the net for Chelsea at present.

Jackson was the man of the moment at the London Stadium on Saturday, though. Maresca thought Jackson was “fantastic”, and you would now expect him to continue leading the line for the Blues, despite Christopher Nkunku putting a little bit of pressure on the Senegal international.

Nkunku would have been hoping to start in the London derby after scoring the winning goal against Bournemouth last weekend. But Maresca decided to stick with Jackson in the end, a decision that paid off.