What Enzo Maresca told Noni Madueke before Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest as celebration explained
Some words from Enzo Maresca during the week appeared to work wonders for Noni Madueke as he scored in Chelsea's 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest. A constant threat for the Blues throughout the game, the winger got the goal his performance deserved in the 57th minute as he curled the ball beyond Forest shot-stopper Matz Sels.
It was a crucial strike from Madueke as it had cancelled out Chris Wood's goal that had given the visitors the lead shortly after the break. The ex-PSV man had looked very dangerous from the off and wasn't too far off finding the target with a curling effort after cutting in from the right flank in the first half.
Madueke even had a couple of chances to double his tally moments after his goal as Chelsea pushed for a quick second. Firstly seeing a header easily saved by Sels, he then shot over the crossbar from the edge of the box after Jadon Sacnho had teed him up.
The 22-year-old's goal was his fifth of the season in only eight games, thus seeing him move to within three of his tally from the previous campaign which he achieved in 34 outings. Madueke's goal was in fact his first since scoring a hat-trick in the 6-2 win away at Wolves in late August.
Maresca was well aware of the winger's struggles to find the net of late and made that point to him leading up to the Nottingham Forest game. That perhaps does explain Madueke's celebration once the ball found the bottom corner.
Rather than running off to celebrate in front of the Matthew Harding Stand with his teammates, the attacker immediately turned back and headed towards the Chelsea dugout. Appearing to point at Maresca and shout a few words in his direction as he ran back with a smile on his face, the head coach was also beaming and laughing to himself after the equaliser.
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Speaking in his Chelsea post-match interview, Maresca was asked about Madueke and stated that his player "is doing fantastic".
“Very happy for Noni but I think all the players were good today," said the 44-year-old. "Happy for Noni because during the week I told him that he scored three goals against Wolves and then he stopped scoring. Today, he scored. Noni is doing fantastic."
When asked if his talk with Madueke was the reason for his celebration, Maresca replied: "Probably yes."
Madueke will be looking to take his strong performance into this month's international break after once again getting the nod for Lee Carsley's England squad. Games against Greece and Finland are on the agenda before Madueke and Chelsea return to club football with an away clash against Liverpool.