Enzo Maresca has played down Chelsea’s chances of challenging for the Premier League title.
Chelsea moved to within four points of leaders Liverpool, two in front of Arsenal and four ahead of Manchester City when they won 4-3 at Tottenham last weekend, extending their winning run to four games.
Maresca has found a settled team despite the club’s significant spending which has propelled them into second place although the head coach, who won Serie A as a player with Juventus and guided Leicester to the Championship title, is not yet seeing the signs of title challengers in Chelsea.
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea
“You can smell that, you can feel that – and that is probably why I said we are not ready because we don’t feel that and we don’t smell that at this moment,” said Maresca ahead of their home fixture against Brentford on Sunday.
“Hopefully soon we can be there, but at this moment I think that is one of the reasons why I think we are not there.
“I like to convince myself and convince the players that the only way to fight for something or to compete for something is to focus on the day-by-day. Because when you start to think in two days, three days, one month, two months it’s the beginning of the bad time.”
Maresca has built his side around Cole Palmer, who has scored 11 goals and produced six assists in 15 league matches this season.
“I feel very proud, privileged to work with Cole, I feel quite lucky to be honest to work with all of them,” said Maresca. “For sure, Cole is a different one from the rest.
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Following their chaotic comeback against Spurs, Jamie Carragher analyses how Enzo Maresca changed the game for Chelsea, after initially going 2-0 down at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
“The most important thing is he loves football. When we start a session he is one of the first out starting to play football, and you can see in that moment the ones that love football and the ones that are playing football.
“But we have many good players. The manager in this case is me, but I feel happy and proud to work with them.”
Chelsea’s next seven league fixtures
- December 15: Brentford (h)
- December 22: Everton (a)
- December 26: Fulham (h)
- December 30: Ipswich (a)
- January 4: Crystal Palace (a)
- January 14: Bournemouth (h)
- January 20: Wolves (h) – live on Sky Sports
Liverpool’s next seven league fixtures
- December 14: Fulham (h)
- December 22: Tottenham (a) – live on Sky Sports
- December 26: Leicester (h)
- December 29: West Ham (a) – live on Sky Sports
- January 5: Man Utd (h) – live on Sky Sports
- January 14: Nottm Forest (a)
- January 18: Brentford (h)
Arsenal’s next seven league fixtures
- December 14: Everton (h)
- December 21: Crystal Palace (a) – live on Sky Sports
- December 27: Ipswich (h)
- January 1: Brentford (a)
- January 5: Brighton (a) – live on Sky Sports
- January 15: Tottenham (h)
- January 18: Aston Villa (h) – live on Sky Sports
