Enzo Maresca used Chelsea's first win in five games to reveal he had beef with someone for not showing him and his players enough support in the build-up to their beating of Everton.

'Worst 48 hours since I joined the club because people didn't support me and the team,' he said, surprisingly dropping that line towards the end of his press conference and in the middle of what was supposed to be an answer on how well Malo Gusto had played.

Maresca did not fancy disclosing much more than that, other than to seemingly clarify he was not aiming his dig at the Chelsea supporters, who he 'loves' and is 'happy' with.

The question is, then, who are these 'people' that had upset him enough to go public?

Was it us in the media? Those of us who were in Bergamo, Italy, to witness Chelsea's 2-1 Champions League loss to Atalanta had written on the questionable decisions he made, not least how he brought on a right back in Gusto to play in the No 10 position. We said it felt as if he was trying to be too clever for his own good. That his substitutions made little sense.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Maresca chose an innocent question on Gusto's performance, after he scored and assisted while inverting into midfield, to have this pop on Saturday.

But he was chipper towards those who attended his pre-match press conference at the training ground on the Friday. He could easily have said something to us then if he wanted, either on the record or off it. He has respectfully challenged our opinions before at Cobham.

That did not happen this time, and besides, those of us in the media are not here to show 'support'. We are there to cover Chelsea through the good times and bad, fairly and accurately.

Was it the hierarchy, then? Perhaps they too privately questioned Maresca on the tactical calls he had made in that Atalanta defeat, or what went wrong in the draw with Bournemouth and loss to Leeds before that trip to Bergamo. Maresca has regular debriefs with those above him, including Chelsea's co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

One Chelsea insider played down Maresca's post-match comments on Saturday evening by describing them as an emotional reaction to an emotional win. He seemed calm enough to those of us in the room as he repeated how disappointing the last '48 hours' had been for him.

Maresca will next speak on Monday morning, before their Tuesday trip to Cardiff in the Carabao Cup, at which point he will be given another opportunity to explain his comments.

After getting back to winning ways by beating Everton, there should only have been positivity. Instead, we are left speculating as to who has now been accused of negativity by Maresca.

For the first time since April 2023, Reece James completed three consecutive full 90s for Chelsea, but it was the other right back operating in midfield who had the greatest impact on this game.

That was Gusto, inverting into central positions. Chances are you will not find too many fans with his name on the back of their shirts. The roles he performs for Maresca can be rather thankless.

But the 22-year-old Frenchman had his best game for Chelsea here, scoring and assisting for the first time in what was the 126th appearance of his career in Europe's elite leagues.

First, he set up Cole Palmer with a perfectly-weighted pass in behind. Palmer knew it was coming as he started sprinting behind Everton's back line as soon as Gusto got the ball from Wesley Fofana. That was in the 21st minute.

Then, in the 45th, Gusto played a pass wide to Pedro Neto and proceeded to bust a gut to get forward into the box. Neto set him up, and Gusto scored Chelsea's second.

Gusto was able to do what he did because Chelsea's centre-back partnership between Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah is proving so strong. They covered for his roaming, with Maresca firmly set on Fofana and Chalobah being his best defensive duo and rightly so.

It was nice to see Chelsea fans showing their appreciation for Gusto at Stamford Bridge, not only for the passes he was playing but for his determination in winning back the ball.

This was not Alejandro Garnacho's day.

No matter how many chances fell at his feet, he could not find the goal.

There was the time he intercepted a poor back pass and skipped by Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski, only to fail to roll the ball into what looked like an entirely empty net.

Then there was another opportunity when he broke behind Everton's back line and, unlike Palmer earlier in this match, he ballooned his shot into the stand.

Garnacho can still prove a good buy at £40million from Manchester United, but he lacked that end product here.