While maintaining that Chelsea is not a serious contender for the Premier League title, Enzo Maresca thinks Manchester City will return to contention. With one more game played than the Merseysiders, Chelsea enters Thursday’s west London derby at home against Fulham in second place in the standings and only four points behind leaders Liverpool. In comparison, City is currently 12 points off the top after a terrible run of nine losses in 12 games across all competitions, despite having won an unparalleled four consecutive Premier League titles before to this season.
However, Maresca, who co-worked at the Etihad with City manager Pep Guardiola, stated: “Manchester City will be there in the end. They are experiencing an unprecedented moment.
“They have injuries every time they play, and right now they don’t have enough players.” It is a terrible scenario since the ones they have are not at their best because they have just recovered from an injury.
“We are ahead of our expectations, in terms of the way we are playing, and the points we have, but the main focus is how we can improve the players and how we can improve the team.”
“It is not about the (title) pressure for the players or for the club or for me, it is just the reality,” Maresca continued, continuing to deny any championship conversation involving Chelsea.
“I would like to have that kind of pressure and hopefully soon we can, but the reason why I said we are not there yet, is because the reality is that we are not.”
“No, the reality says we are second at halfway point, so the table does reflect the teams,” Maresca said when asked if it was now Liverpool’s turn to lose the title.
“But Liverpool have done a fantastic job since the first day, and the squad has lived that kind of moment, winning a trophy, which is important.
“Last year, when Liverpool faced Chelsea in the Carabao (League) Cup final I saw the amount of finals that Liverpool players had played in, and the number of finals Chelsea players had played in, and there was a huge difference. So it shows the experience you need, but we are happy to be where we are.”
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