Despite Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Brentford, which brought them within two points of the Premier League summit behind Liverpool, head coach Enzo Maresca remains adamant that his team are not ready to compete for the title.
The late goal conceded by the Blues in the 90th minute, setting up a tense finish, was cited by Maresca as evidence of their unpreparedness to challenge.
Marc Cucurella and Nicolas Jackson scored for Chelsea, but Bryan Mbeumo's goal for Brentford made it 2-1 at the death. "No matter how many games we are going to win, I think we’re not ready to compete for the title," said Maresca.
"One of the reasons is I think the team that knows how to compete to win titles will not concede a goal like we concede."
He added: "On 90 minutes, a throw-in for us and we concede a goal. A team that knows how to win titles, that goal they’re not to going to concede. It’s why I continue to say that we are not ready for titles.
"Even if you don’t believe me. I would love the pressure to compete for the title. But we cannot concede the goal we concede and open the game and give them the chance to take a point here."
Chelsea's Cucurella was shown a second yellow card for a post-match altercation with Brentford's Kevin Schade, resulting in a one-game suspension.
Maresca reflected: "The referee said the second yellow card was for bad attitude. I was with the coaching staff celebrating so I didn’t see anything."
The boss then acknowledged the room for improvement: "We could do many things better. The way to manage some moments, probably this is one of the moments we can improve.
"The spirit of the team, sometimes you can receive some yellow cards, probably the second one is not the correct thing to do. It’s things that we need to improve.
"Cucu will be suspended and there’ll be another one in his place. Pedro (Neto) was suspended tonight and Noni (Madueke’s) performance was top. When they are suspended, another one will play."
On the other side, Brentford manager Thomas Frank lamented his team's narrow defeat: "We were unlucky not to get at least a draw," he said.
"Our second half was fantastic, we went more or less toe to toe with number two in the Premier League, one of the favourites to win the title. Look at their players, the money they’ve spent.
"We were hugely impressive and we were very unlucky not to get a draw. It meant a lot to them so we must have caused them a lot of trouble."