Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has jumped to the defence of his backline ahead of Saturday's Premier League fixture at Leicester City.

The Blues will make the trip to the King Power Stadium sitting in third position in the table after 11 matches, only losing to Manchester City and Liverpool.

Scoring just two goals fewer that the division high of 23, much has been made of Chelsea posing a threat in the final third with their attractive style of play.

However, criticism has been aimed at the defence, not helped by errors that have been made by either Robert Sanchez or an outfield player when attempting to play out from the back.

Maresca has always taken a strong stance to any negative comments regarding that aspect of Chelsea's play, taking responsibility for any mistakes that are made.

'This is not PlayStation'

Only five teams - Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Arsenal and Manchester United - have conceded fewer goals than Chelsea's total of 13 from 11 matches.

Furthermore, in 18 games in all competitions, Chelsea are yet to concede more than twice in a single fixture, albeit keeping just the five clean sheets.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Maresca doubled down on his view that Chelsea have been performing solidly from a defensive standpoint.

The Italian told reporters: "We can attack better and we can defend better. In the Premier League there are only four or five clubs that have conceded less than us.

"If people think we're not going to concede a goal, that's PlayStation, not football.

"In the end, we are going to concede a goal. I don't know why people are thinking we are defending bad."

James blow

Earlier in his media briefing, Maresca revealed that Reece James would miss the game in the East Midlands courtesy of sustaining yet another hamstring injury.

Malo Gusto is in line to feature at right-back on the back of recovering from an ankle knock sustained against Arsenal prior to the international break.

Maresca is making his first return to Leicester since guiding the Foxes to the Championship title in 2023-24, the 44-year-old insisting that his time at the club could put Chelsea at a disadvantage. body check tags ::