Chelsea still waiting for scent of a title race, says Maresca

Chelsea's recent results have cemented their status as Premier League title contenders, but manager Enzo Maresca said he and the club's players do not feel involved in the title race just yet.

Chelsea roared back from two goals down to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 on Sunday and clinch a fourth straight league win, which took them up to second place with 31 points from 15 games, four behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

The west London club are also two points ahead of third-placed Arsenal and four ahead of defending champions Manchester City in fourth.

However, Maresca, who was hired in June after guiding Leicester City to the Championship (second-tier) title in his first season in charge, has steadfastly refused to accept that his side are contenders.

"You can smell that (a title race), you can feel that. And probably this is the reason why I said we are not ready, because we don't feel that and we don't smell that in this moment. Hopefully soon we can be there," the Italian told reporters.

"I like to convince myself and convince the players that the only way to fight for something is just to be focused on the day-by-day.

"When you start to think about 'in two days, three days, one month, two months', it's the beginning of the bad times."

Chelsea next host ninth-placed Brentford in the league on Sunday.

Brentford have been poor on the road, earning just one point from seven away games in the league, but while it may seem like a favourable match-up for Maresca's side, the Bees have become something of a bogey team for Chelsea in recent years.

Chelsea are winless in their last five league meetings with Brentford and Maresca highlighted their opponents' versatility as a potential stumbling block, adding: "The good thing about them is that they can play in different styles.

"They don't have just one way to play. They can play back four, they can play back five.

"They can play back four, making a back five with one of the wingers. So it's quite complicated but we're going to try to do our best."

Maresca also hailed Jadon Sancho's improvement in front of goal after the winger scored in back-to-back league matches.

"Jadon, probably, he was lacking in finishing because we had many games where he arrived many times 1v1 and he's always looking for assist, assist, assist," Maresca said.

"That is something good, but sometimes also you are in a position where you can take a shot and now he's doing better. In the left side, with the left pocket and left winger, we have struggled a little bit (to score)."