Chelsea are now behind league leaders after pounding Burnley 2-0 on Saturday in their stadium.
This win at Burnley came courtesy of goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernández goal and was their fourth successive away victory.
The win extended an extraordinary run for Chelsea, who have now won their last eight games when given the 12.30pm television slot on the Saturday. Maresca was not happy with the broadcasters after also being asked to play in the lunchtime game following the international break in October. “We accept it once but not twice in a row,” he said. 
And this match followed a similar pattern to their win over Nottingham Forest a month ago, with a slow but solid enough start before taking control of the game with a goal. The early start in Lancashire also meant more time to recover before facing Barcelona on Tuesday.
Maresca appeared to have Barça in mind when he rested Wesley Fofana completely and had Moisés Caicedo on the bench after he went on international duty carrying a knock and played two games for Ecuador. Reece James also came off at half-time.
The only notable action of the opening exchanges was Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez hitting team-mate Fernández in the back of the head with a drop-kick. When Chelsea eventually took the lead, eight minutes before half-time, it was the perfect example of Maresca has been “inverting” his left-back.
Marc Cucurella does not just move into central midfield when he “inverts”, the Spain international pushes forward into the No 10 role. In fact, when Tosin Adarabioyo hit a long pass forward for the goal, Cucurella was the furthest forward for Chelsea and held up the ball.
With Jamie Gittens brought into play, a cross was sent to the far post where Neto scored his fourth goal of the season with a diving header.
Burnley may have had claims for a penalty in the first half when Trevoh Chalobah used his hand to stop the ball to take a goal-kick and it was unclear whether the ball was already in play.
Fernández’s goal came with two minutes left when Chelsea went from their backline to attack with a fast, passing attack. Neto eventually sent Marc Guiu away and the substitute muscled past Axel Tuanzebe before cutting back for Fernández.
