The Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, fears it could be “impossible” for any team to stop Liverpool from retaining their Premier League crown. Arne Slot’s champions have already established a five-point cushion at the top of the table after an unblemished start to their title defence.
After a 2-2 draw at Brentford and then a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United, Chelsea are seven points off the championship pace. Liverpool secured the title last season with four matches to spare and then broke their transfer record twice this summer, signing Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, in a deal which could rise to £116m, before spending £125m on Alexander Isak on deadline day. In all, Liverpool spent more than £400m on new signings.
“If they continue in this way I think it is impossible to catch them, not just for us, but for all the clubs,” Maresca said. “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.”
Chelsea, winless in three matches after also losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League last week, face Lincoln in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday. Cole Palmer is set to be unavailable following his first-half withdrawal with a groin problem in the defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday. Maresca is hopeful the 23-year-old will not need an operation on the injury which has restricted him to just two league starts this season, but admitted the club are staging a meeting to determine the best route forward for their star player.
Asked whether Palmer will need to have an operation on the injury, Maresca said: “The medical staff, they didn’t mention to me about surgery. I don’t know if in the next days or the next weeks, but I don’t think so, to be honest. But we need to protect Cole, 100%. Because of the Club World Cup, and we never stopped, we need to manage and protect different players, and Cole is one of them.
Cole Palmer looked in pain when he went off against Manchester United and his fitness will have to be managed carefully. Photograph: Paul Currie/Shutterstock
“Now we have a meeting with the medical staff and decide the best solution for him. It is not an injury which is black and white. It is an injury which on some days you can be better and the pain disappears, and sometimes you can be worse so that is why we have to manage it day by day.”
Maresca is set to use a number of academy players for the tie at the LNER Stadium against a side who are third in League One. The gulf between the two teams ensures Chelsea are the overwhelming favourites to progress to the next stage.
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But Maresca said: “Personally, I would prefer to play against a Premier League team rather than a League One team because these are the kind of games that worry me most because you can underestimate the opposition. It is something we need to avoid, do our job and then focus on the Premier League [against Brighton] on Saturday.”
