Maresca reveals the one advantage Liverpool have over Chelsea in the title race

Chelsea sit second in the Premier League table heading into Christmas, but Blues boss Maresca has consistently denied that his team are in the title race because he believes it is too early for his young squad.

Maresca does accept, however, that the table is a somewhat accurate reflection of where his team are given that the Premier League campaign is almost at the halfway stage, but is still giving Liverpool the edge over his team.

'I think, for sure, the reality is that we are second and we are not just second after four or five games, when probably the table is still not the real one,' he said.

'It's almost halfway, at 17 games, so probably the table reflects, a little bit, the teams and where they are.

'But for sure, Liverpool are doing fantastic since the first day. It is a squad that has already lived that kind of moment, winning a trophy, which is important.

'In one of my press conferences, I said that last year, when Liverpool faced Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final, I saw the amount of finals Liverpool players had played and the Chelsea ones, and it was a huge difference.

'This showed the experience you need to read this kind of moment, to raise, and to get more close, but we are happy to be where we are at this moment.'

Maresca is also backing his former club Manchester City, where he spent a year as assistant manager under Pep Guardiola, to be closer to the top spot come the end of the season.

'I think Manchester City at the end will be there,' he said.

'They are in a moment that never happened before. Every time they play a game they have some injuries, they don't have enough players in this moment, the ones that they have are probably still not 100% after coming back from injury, so it's a very bad situation.'