Enzo Maresca has described Moisés Caicedo as “one of the two best defensive midfielders in the world” after his match-winning contribution to Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
Caicedo twice won the ball high up the pitch and then played a clever pass for João Pedro to score the only goal of the game in north London as Chelsea temporarily climbed up to fourth in the Premier League table, ahead of Liverpool’s meeting with Aston Villa later in the day.
The Ecuador international — who moved to Stamford Bridge from Brighton for a then British record fee of £115 million in 2023 — has been a standout performer in an inconsistent campaign for Chelsea to date and Maresca said: “Moi, I think he’s showing how good he is.
“He’s top, I said many times, the best thing from Moi for sure, we judge him inside the pitch, but he’s so humble, he’s so good guy, he’s always there to help everyone.
“For me, him and [Manchester City’s] Rodri, in this moment they are the two best defending midfielders in the world.”
Pedro scored his first goal in 10 games and Maresca backed the forward to rediscover his scoring touch as he continues to battle fitness issues.
“João has never been a problem,” said Maresca.
“The problem with João is that he’s not training every day, because he has problems. He has some problems that we are trying to manage.
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“So it’s normal that then the consequence is that you cannot be 100% and fit every game. But I’m not worried about João, because João is a good player, he’s going to score goals.
“Even when he didn’t score, he had some good games. For instance, against Liverpool [a 2-1 win last month], I think he was also very good.
“Now we have Liam [Delap] back, that also can help us as a striker.
“So we have already a different option, that is a good thing for us, because since we started we are without Cole [Palmer], we have been two months without Liam. So we need offensive players.”
