Enzo Maresca bullishly told Chelsea's critics throughout the last season to ‘eff off’ after they won at Nottingham Forest to clinch Champions League qualification.
One of their own in Levi Colwill scored the winner at the City Ground to secure a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League, with Maresca feeling like rubbing their achievement in the faces of those who told them their campaign would end in failure.
‘I didn’t have any doubt about the players,’ said Maresca. ‘The doubt was from outside. All the ones that have the answers or the ones that have the truth, they were saying that we are too young, we are not good enough, they were waiting for Aston Villa to drop points for us to achieve the Champions League.