The Blues secured a 2-1 win at home to Brentford on Sunday to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to just two points, although Arne Slot’s side have a game in hand.
Maresca feels that the manner in which Chelsea concede goals will hinder their title hopes.
As reported by The Mirror, Maresca said: ‘No matter how many games we win, I think we are not ready to compete for the title.
‘One of the reasons why is that the team that knows how to compete to win titles, they won’t concede goals we concede. A team that knows how to win titles, that is not a goal they know how to concede.’
‘Just two teams have conceded less than us. Defensively we’re not doing bad. We’d like to end with a clean sheet but there’s another team trying to score.’
As Maresca alludes to, Chelsea have only conceded 19 goals in the league this season, with Arsenal (15) and Liverpool (13) the only teams to have conceded fewer.
Maresca indicated that there are some improvements his team needs to make defensively
However, Maresca believes that there is still some room for his side to improve defensively.
Chelsea host Shamrock Rovers in the Europa Conference League on Thursday before returning to league action three days later with a trip to face Everton.
Maresca’s team have exceeded expectations with their performances in the league this season and they will be determined to keep their standards high during the second half of the campaign to ensure that Liverpool remain under pressure.
