“I don’t see, in this moment, Chelsea as close to these kinds of clubs for many, many reasons,” said Maresca.
"For sure we work every day to be closer to that club. Knowing that requires work together, day by day, with time, to get close.
“The only way to try to be close is to be focused on the things we need to improve. To think where we can be in four games, it is difficult. The only thing I can say is we will try to do our best on Sunday to play a good game and then to get the points.”
He added, “Probably in the last five, six, seven, eight years, Liverpool were more contenders with City, they were always very, very close for the Premier League and even Champions League.
“But hopefully, we can be again there in both, competing for titles.”