LONDON (Reuters) -Chelsea returned to the top four of the Premier League on Sunday after squeezing past struggling Leicester City 1-0, with a 60th-minute goal from Spain defender Marc Cucurella.
The home side, who have lost momentum since the new year, injuries depriving them of an out-and-out striker, made heavy weather of their victory in warm London sunshine.
Coach Enzo Maresca, who moved to Chelsea from Leicester last year, celebrated enthusiastically at the whistle and told reporters it was because his players had shown flexibility and hard work to break down an unusual Leicester formation with five at the back.
"Everything we have done in the last three, four days (in training) - forget it," he said.
"The players have been so good in the way they have adapted," he added. "When a team creates the number of chances we did today, you have to be happy."
Chelsea had been dominant in possession but toothless before Enzo Fernandez squared a pass to the onrushing Cucurella, who skidded an angled shot across the turf and past the diving Mads Hermansen.
"I think Enzo passed me the ball and I see that I have the option to shoot. Normally I wouldn't but I tried. We got the three points and we want to fight for the objectives," Cucurella told Sky Sports. "I'm really happy."
Cole Palmer had a first-half penalty superbly saved by the Danish goalkeeper. It was the first Premier League penalty miss for the out-of-sorts Chelsea forward, who has now gone seven league games without a goal.
Maresca said Palmer had not trained for the last two days through illness but had been keen to play on Sunday. He was subbed in the 73rd minute.
Ruud van Nistelrooy's Leicester, deep in the relegation zone, looked dangerous on the counter, with Moroccan midfielder Bilal El Khannouss and Jamie Vardy linking effectively without finding the killer shot.
And they did not give up, substitute Ricardo Pereira drawing a save from Robert Sanchez in the 86th minute.
Van Nistelrooy said he felt his players deserved more after a fine defensive performance and the impressive penalty save.
"We don’t know if we will run out of time. We know we have today and we have tomorrow and the players are working hard every day," he said. "We depend on other results as well."
But his side, who have failed to score in their last five matches, managed only three shots to Chelsea's 20 and Sunday's loss left them on 17 points, second bottom of the table and six points from the safety zone.
Chelsea leap-frogged Manchester City, who lost to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, into fourth spot on 49 points, two behind third-placed Forest and 21 adrift of leaders Liverpool.
Before meeting second-placed Arsenal next weekend, the London side face Copenhagen in the Europa League at home on Thursday with a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
(Reporting by Clare Lovell, editing by Ed Osmond and Pritha Sarkar)
