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Chelsea are “better” and “closer” to winning the Premier League than they were last season, but Enzo Marisca has not stopped short of actually saying his side can win the title.
Premier League leaders Arsenal It was held to a 1-1 draw Chelsea In a fiery match at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The result leaves Mariska’s men six points behind the Gunners after 13 games, and would likely have taken all three points had Messis Casido not been sent off in the first half.
Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal: Key Stats
- Aerial duel win %: Chelsea 71 – 29 weapons
- Correct Passes: 216 – 387
- Key passes: 10 – 7
- Clearance: 30 – 18
It was one Great performance from Chelseawho never seemed to be the bottom man. Mariska is confident his team is improving and praised his players for competing so well at 10v11 in Europe’s most in-form team.
He told Sky Sports: “I think we showed we’re going in the right direction. That’s what I always say.
“The performance has been fantastic. We were a much better team than them 11 v 11, but with 10 players it’s tough – still we handled it brilliantly.
“11 v 11, we were better than them. We tried to exploit the best solution, the best place. We knew that was the place for Malo (Gusto) and Estevao. Tonight we can be happy even if we didn’t win.”
Read: Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1: The Casido v Rice debate may be dead, but the title race lives on
Mariska continued: “This is football. It’s between Chelsea and weapon.
“You have to double the effort, that’s the most important thing. We didn’t change too much on the ball. We tried to go to Liam (Delp). In open play, the idea was exactly the same.”
But are Chelsea title contenders, Enzo? That’s the question, especially after you denied last season and your team’s form dropped early.
“I think we are better than last season,” said the Blues head coach. “We’re close. We’ll see where we are in February and March and then we’ll review our target.”
Mariska also discussed Caicedo’s red card for his challenge on Mikel Merino, calling for consistency after Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentoncourt avoided a dismissal against Chelsea earlier this season.
He said: “I struggle to understand the different ways of judging. What about Bentoncourt on Rees (James)? Why is there a red card and not one? I think it’s a red card tonight, that’s clear. But why the difference? It is what it is.
“Moises is always the same. Top player for us. His desire is to try and win the game.”
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Chelsea ‘send message’ to Premier League with Arsenal draw
Player of the match Reece James said Chelsea’s performance sent a message to the rest of the league.
“It was tough,” he said. “We started well, started fast. When we went to 10, it became more difficult. But if you look at the game collectively, we fought well with 10 against 11.
“The team is so young and we went toe-to-toe with the Premier League leaders. We showed no fear. We tried to come out to win games and unfortunately we didn’t, but there are a lot of positives to take.
“Our aim is always to win – this is Chelsea and the standards here are high. I think the performance will speak for itself and send a message to the other teams in the league.”