Arne Slot has offered his verdict on whether Chelsea can compete with Liverpool for the Premier League title this season.
Chelsea have exceeded expectations since Enzo Maresca was appointed to succeed Mauricio Pochettino in the summer as the club's head coach.
Despite getting knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle United, Chelsea are going strong in the Premier League and confirmed their place in the last-16 of the Conference League as they eye silverware in Maresca's first season in charge.
Chelsea have lost just twice in the league this season. They suffered defeat to current champions Manchester City on the opening weekend of the campaign, while also losing to current leaders Liverpool narrowly at Anfield back in October.
It was a game of fine margins and Chelsea felt they deserved to take something from the game. Since then, the Blues haven't looked back. They are currently on an unbeaten run of nine games in all competitions and have won their last six matches.
Curtis Jones
Curtis Jones netted the winner in a 2-1 victory over Chelsea. / IMAGO / Propaganda Photo
As a result, talk has increased over whether Chelsea are contenders for the league title this season despite pre-season predictions of the Blues only being capable of challenging for the Champions League qualification spots.
Maresca insists Chelsea are not ready to win the league title. On his reasoning, the 44-year-old explained: "You can smell that, you can feel that (when you know winning titles are possible) and probably this is the reason why I said we are not ready. We don’t feel that and we don’t smell that in this moment.
"As I said, hopefully soon we can be there. But in this moment, this is one of the reasons why I think we are not there."
Chelsea are currently only four points adrift of Liverpool, who have a game in hand after their Merseyside derby was recently postponed due to Storm Darragh, and their festive fixture schedule offers them a real opportunity to put the pressure on Slot's side.
📈 Most goals by #PL teams this season (all comps):
64⚽️: 💥CHELSEA💥
50⚽️: Liverpool
48⚽️: Arsenal
45 ⚽️: Tottenham*
43⚽️: Man City
41⚽️: Man Utd*
* still to play this evening.#CFC #UECL @AbsoluteChelsea pic.twitter.com/TsEMYvzLNo
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) December 12, 2024
Prior to their league clash against Fulham, the Liverpool boss was quizzed on Chelsea's chances of competing for the title and insisted he won't offer his judgement.
Slot hailed Chelsea's 'impressive' approach and believes they are the only side to have threatened Liverpool more than his team this season.
He told reporters: "It was one of the games (when Liverpool beat them 2-1 in October), maybe the only game, where I felt the other team was better than us during that game. That’s not to say for the long term they are better than us but during the game they had more ball possession than us and were threatening us more than any other team until now.
"I’m not there to judge which position they will end in the league table. I have to focus on my own team but Chelsea have been impressive this season so far, that’s for sure."
Chelsea face Brentford on Sunday evening at Stamford Bridge and will be keen to end a run of five league games without victory over Thomas Frank's Bees.