Enzo Maresca sounds ‘impossible’ Liverpool claim just days before Reds visit Chelsea | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca was one of just four managers to mastermind a Premier League win over Liverpool last season, but he already seems to have given up hope of his Chelsea side catching the early pace-setters in 2025/26.

While the reigning champions have begun the campaign with five straight top-flight victories, the Blues have already dropped seven points and are without a win in three games in all competitions, with sobering defeats to Bayern Munich and Manchester United over the past week.

The west Londoners will play host to the Reds in early October, after which they could either have closed in on Arne Slot’s team or be left even further adrift of the current leaders.

Maresca already dismisses Chelsea’s chances of catching Liverpool

Having watched from afar as Liverpool strengthened their title-winning squad to the tune of more than £400m over the summer and raced out of the starting blocks this season, Maresca fears that Chelsea already face an insurmountable challenge in trying to reel in the 20-time champions.

The Stamford Bridge boss said of the Reds (via football.london): “If they continue in this way I think it is impossible to catch them, not just for us, but for all the clubs.

“They have been doing a fantastic job since last year, and the players they have decided to buy shows the intention of the club to go again for the Premier League and the Champions League, and that is quite clear.”

(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Mind games or brutal honesty from Maresca?

Mind games from Maresca, who claimed that he once watched 38 Liverpool matches in one week before facing the Reds? Or an acknowledgement that Chelsea aren’t yet ready to truly push the Merseysiders all the way in a title race despite their Club World Cup triumph in the summer?

Five games into the season is much too soon to make definitive judgements about any team in the Premier League, although the five-point lead that the Reds have established has been described by Gary Neville as ‘ominous’ for the chasing pack.

It’d be unwise to completely dismiss the Blues this early in the campaign, but if they were to lose to the champions at Stamford Bridge on Saturday week and drop close to a double-digit margin off the pace, it’d take a monumental effort on their part to overturn that gap.

Liverpool’s record away to Chelsea isn’t overly auspicious, though, having not won at the west London venue in five years. They were beaten 3-1 on their most recent visit in May, albeit with the significant caveat of having clinched the Premier League title a week earlier.

Perhaps Maresca shouldn’t be completely writing his team out of the race a month before the clocks go back, but LFC will soon have an opportunity to land a direct hit on the Blues and make their job of usurping the champions even harder.