Enzo Maresca has been quick to pour cold water on their Premier League title hopes this season, which come after a perhaps unexpectedly strong start to the campaign.
After two seasons of inconsistency and uncertainty at Stamford Bridge (with Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino), Maresca appears to have turned a corner in west London.
Their team, Chelsea, are currently level on points (and indeed have an identical record after 13 games) with Arsenal, who are ahead in second place simply by being the away team in the 1-1 draw at beginnings of the campaign.
Although Liverpool are the undisputed leaders of the league, nine points clear of their London rivals, Maresca and company have entered the title conversation after a third of the season.
However, the Italian manager was quick to downplay any hype surrounding his team as contenders for the crown, suggesting instead that fans and pundits alike might need to put title talks on hold for a few more years.
“For me, Chelsea in the next five to ten years will be one of the teams, or the team that will dominate English football. This is what I told the club when I first met them.
Enzo Maresca has suggested that those supporting his team in the title race should look a little further into the future.
Chelsea have had a good start to the season and have exactly the same record as Arsenal.
“It doesn’t matter the coach, the age or the squad, you can dominate English football, and I still feel exactly the same.
‘Now, in terms of objectives, they didn’t ask me for any objectives, but to build something important for the coming years. I think we are going in the right direction.
“In terms of personal goals, I know that from the outside you find it hard to believe, I just finished seeing how today the players can improve and how the team can improve.”
“I’m focused on Southampton, but not on the end of the season, next season, two seasons, because it’s not real.”
Chelsea have put a big emphasis in recent transfer windows on signing young players with high ceilings who can become stars at the club, rather than investing in ready-made world champions.
It’s a recruiting ethos that has drawn a lot of attention, and not all of his acquisitions reached the same heights as Cole Palmer.
The Manchester City youth product is one of the most prominent players in the Premier League at the moment after his appearance in west London.
Since making his debut last season, he has scored 33 goals and provided 21 assists in 60 games in all competitions, and has contributed 16 (eight goals, eight assists) in 13 Premier League games this season, and has been crucial to the strong Blues team. shape.
Cole Palmer’s good form (eight goals and eight assists in 13 league games) has been crucial
Maresca also offered an update on the fitness of his injury-prone captain Reece James on Tuesday.
To viewers, it may seem intriguing that a manager whose team has exactly the same record as one considered in the race, but Maresca revealed why he believes the circumstances are different for Arsenal and Chelsea.
‘Absolutely, yes!’ he said when asked if he still believes his team is not in the title race.
‘That they have been there in the last two years, very close to City, and we were very far from City.
“I said that being in the title race is a good pressure for me and for the players, it’s not that kind of pressure that you don’t like. It’s the kind that you like because you’re in a title race, but that’s not the case. It is our case.
‘Arsenal in the last two years was very, very close to City. Liverpool were there, we weren’t. Like I said, I hope we can be there soon.”
Maresca also had a number of injury updates to give his team and admitted that Wesley Fofana will be out for the next game against Southampton and probably Tottenham at the weekend.
He added: “(Reece James) is more or less in the same situation, he is improving, but he still needs weeks to return.”