Maresca responds to Carragher's claim about Chelsea's Premier League title hopes | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has responded to Jamie Carragher's criticism of Chelsea's defensive line after a disappointing defeat to Manchester United.

Chelsea suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season to Ruben Amorim's Manchester United on Saturday night.

There were a lot of things that went wrong for Chelsea in that game, but Robert Sanchez's early red card took the spotlight.

After the game, former Liverpool defender Carragher argued that Chelsea have "no chance" to win the league with the personnel they have defensively.

"You can’t turn up to Old Trafford with the goalkeeper and centre-backs that you've got, it can't win you the league," he said on Sky Sports.

IMAGO / Sportimage

Carragher also pointed out how the last time Chelsea won the league, they had Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois in goal.

Asked about this in Monday's press conference, Maresca insisted that winning the league is not his main objective this season.

"I think, as I've said many times, anyone can say what they decide to say. It's not a problem," said Maresca.

"I think we improved a lot last season. For instance, if you see the last three or four tables in the last three or four years, we closed the gap with the first one, two or three.

"For me, this season, the main target is to continue to improve players, continue to improve the team and try to close that gap. This is, for me, the main focus for this season."

IMAGO / Sportimage

This is a rather expected answer for Maresca, who is unlikely to publicly criticise his players or the club, but Carragher arguably made a fairly good point.

Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper Sanchez is certainly not at the level of Liverpool's Alisson or new Manchester City signing Gianluigi Donnarumma.

At the centre-back position, Levi Colwill's long-term injury is also a big blow to any hopes Chelsea had of challenging for the title.

However, as Maresca highlighted, Chelsea have been closing the gap to the leading clubs, and it is not fair to count them out of the title race in the coming seasons considering the attacking talents they have at their disposal.