Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has conceded that Liverpool look well placed to run away at the head of the Premier League this season. Maresca singled out the Reds\u2019 ability to grind out results even while a number of high-profile summer signings are still settling.<\/p>\n
Liverpool are not yet at their best, with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitik\u00e9, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez all still working to gel together. Despite that, Maresca argued their recent form has set a clear pattern and could produce a gap rivals struggle to close. \u201cIf they continue in this way I think it is impossible to catch them, not just for us, but for all the clubs,\u201d Maresca said. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this summer Reds boss Arne Slot admitted Liverpool were the favourites to win the title this season, but insisted that status was earned simply by last season\u2019s success and had nothing to do with their record-breaking transfer spend. Victories over Arsenal and Newcastle United have reinforced the sense that Liverpool are the side to beat.<\/p>\n
A meeting with Chelsea in early October offers a further test. A Liverpool win would feed belief among their supporters about defending the title, a feat rarely managed in the club\u2019s modern history. Should Slot oversee another successive triumph, he would become the first Liverpool manager since Bob Paisley in 1983 to win back-to-back top-flight titles.<\/p>\n
Chelsea remain part of the chasing pack but have made a slow start. The Blues sit sixth after five games with a disappointing return of just eight points, a position Maresca will be keen to improve as the season progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Enzo Maresca says Liverpool look set to run away in the title race as new signings find form. Later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,175],"tags":[195,299,1047],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-liverpool","tag-alexander-isak","tag-arne-slot","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}