Joao Pedro struck midway through the first-half for the victory, leaving Maresca happy with the result, though wanting more from his players in possession.
He said afterwards: "I'm happy with the 1-0 and with the three points, especially because we kept the clean sheet, that I think is something that we need for the future. We know that we are a team that at the end we are going to score goals, but we need to do better defensively.
"I think the performance was very good on the ball and off the ball. For sure the way we tried to press was very important, but I also think that our game against Liverpool off the ball was top game, was very good, and you need that. You need that if you want to be close to the top, you need to be defensively solid. As I said, we know that almost always score goals, but we need also to try to concede less goals."
On Moises Caicedo's performance, Maresca was effusive.
"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. And I just said to the television that for me, him and Rodri, in this moment they are the two best defending midfielders in the world."
On Chelsea's matchwinner, Maresca also said: "Joao has never been a problem. The problem with Joao is that he's not training every day, because he has problems. He has some problems that we are trying to manage. So it's normal that then the consequence is that you cannot be 100% and fit every game. But I'm not worried about Joao, because Joao is a good player, he's going to score goals."