Maresca plays down Chelsea's PL title hopes with message to the club's owners

Enzo Maresca has been quick to pour cold water on their Premier League title hopes this term, which come after a perhaps unexpectedly strong start to the campaign.

Following two seasons of inconsistency and uncertainty at Stamford Bridge - under Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino - Maresca appears to have turned a corner in west London.

His Chelsea side are currently level on points - and indeed have an identical record after 13 games - with Arsenal, who are ahead in second purely by virtue of having been the away side in their 1-1 draw earlier in the campaign.

Though Liverpool are the league's early runaway leaders, nine points clear of the London rivals, Maresca and Co have played themselves into the title conversation after a third of the season.

Yet the Italian boss was quick to play down any hype around his side as contenders for the crown, instead suggesting that fans and pundits alike may need to halt title talk for a few more years.

'For me Chelsea in the next five-10 years will be one of the teams, or the team that is going to dominate English football. This is what I said to the club the first time that I met them.

'No matter the manager, because of the age and because of the squad, you can dominate English football, and I still feel exactly the same.

'Now, in terms of target they didn't ask me any target, but to build something for the next years important. I think we are in the right direction.

'In terms of personal target, I know that from outside you struggle to believe, I just finished to see how today how the players can improve and how the team can improve.

'I'm focused about Southampton, but I'm not focused about end of the season, next season, two seasons, because it is not real.'

Chelsea have put a heavy emphasis in recent transfer windows on signing young players with high ceilings who can grow into stars at the club, rather than in investing in ready-made world-beaters.

It is a recruitment ethos that has drawn plenty of attention, with not all of their acquisitions reaching the same heights as Cole Palmer.

The Manchester City academy product is one of the leading players in the Premier League at the moment following his emergence in west London.

Since making his debut last term he has scored 33 goals and provided 21 assists in 60 games in all competitions, and has 16 (eight goals, eight assists) contributions in 13 Premier League games this term, and has been crucial to the Blues' strong form.

For onlookers, it may seem intriguing that a manager whose side have the exact same record as one that are considered to be in the race, but Maresca revealed why he believes it is a different set of circumstances for Arsenal and Chelsea.

'Absolutely, yeah!' he said when asked whether he still believes his side are not in the race for the title.

'That they have been there in the last two years, very close to City, and we were very far from City.

'I said to be in the title race is nice pressure for me and the players, it's not that kind of pressure that you don't like. It's the kind you do like because you're in a title race, but that's not our case.

'Arsenal in the last two years they were very, very close to City. Liverpool were there, we were not there. As I said, hopefully soon we can be there.'

Maresca also had a number of injury updates to provide for his squad, and admitted that Wesley Fofana will be out for the upcoming game against Southampton, and likely Tottenham at the weekend.

He added: '[Reece James] is the same situation more or less, he is getting better, but he needs still weeks to come back.'