The Blues ran rampant against last season's Armenian Premier League runners-up, with braces for Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.

It marked a third straight UECL win for Chelsea, who are odds-on favourites to win the trophy this term, even with key names like Cole Palmer omitted from their squad.

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While Maresca took the chance to rotate several of his fringe stars into the mix against their visitors, he nevertheless stressed how pleased he was by their conduct throughout.

"You have to be serious, professional and the most important thing is they showed how serious and professional they are," he told TNT Sports.

"[I am] very impressed, especially because we are trying to change players every game. It works well. We have good players and we want them to get minutes.

"Some of them [are] playing in the Conference [League], some in the Premier League, but all of them want to play every game.

"We are [headed] in the right direction. I would've liked to play with all these attacking boys. But you need defensive balance."

Chelsea will play one last game before the November international break on Sunday, when they face Arsenal in a critical London derby encounter for both teams.

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