What Arsenal and Liverpool slip means for Chelsea in Premier League title race shock

As far as Saturdays go, Enzo Maresca can't have had too many better than this. At least, not when his side hasn't even played (yet).

Results from December 14 meant that across two weeks of Premier League football, Arsenal and Liverpool had picked up a combined three points from three matches, winning none. Albeit Arne Slot's side only played once due to the postponed Merseyside derby, an opportunity for Chelsea has arisen.

Heading into a home match, favourable on paper, to Brentford, the gap to the top is only five points with a lead opening up to the Champions League chasers behind. It means that Chelsea could end the weekend just two off table toppers Liverpool having played a game more and also four ahead of Arsenal in third.

Manchester City, still off the pace in fourth, also have a tricky match as they face Manchester United in one of the least predictable derbies in recent years. Wary of speaking too soon or for Maresca, the table is unfolding nicely for Chelsea and it's all going their way right now.

On a four-game winning run already - including against ostensibly the two toughest matches left in 2024 with last year's fourth and fifth placed sides Aston Villa and Tottenham - Chelsea look well set to extend the gap to their competitors in the race for Europe. That is the position Chelsea thought they would be in, not looking further up.

Understandably not keen to entertain talk of a title challenge just yet, Maresca and his players are emerging as the most likely contenders to go up against Liverpool. Slot said as much on Friday when he firmly placed Chelsea in the picture.

In fact, it is those around the club themselves who are downplaying it the most. Even the most Chelsea-skeptical of pundits are accepting that maybe something is happening.

Maresca and Chelsea will continue to shrug the pressure of being in a title race off as they look to keep improving, after all, there is still some way to go, but will have done well not to let out a smile as Liverpool and Arsenal contrived to drop points and pass up a chance to move ahead (or further ahead) even briefly. That will not stop the expectation from the outside from growing.

It isn't just some lingering pessimism from the past two-and-a-half years that is causing the current second-placed team to write themselves out of where most clubs want to be, however. This strange phenomenon - because who wouldn't want to be labelled as a challenger - is even more notable when considering that fighting at the top is exactly where Chelsea have been so used to being since 2003.

There hasn't been a true and serious race for the title in the Premier League since Antonio Conte's title-winning season in 2016/17, and even promising starts for Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel dipped off at around this stage. That explains the joy of simply being a threat for many associated with Chelsea.

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They haven't beaten Brentford at home in three attempts since Thomas Frank gained promotion in 2021, and all of those matches have ended in embarrassing defeat one way or another. In an eery parallel, the last time Chelsea had won six games in a row across all competitions and were looking to make it seven, they welcomed Brentford to SW6 only to go down 4-1 from a goal up.

That season was also ironically when they were perhaps last deemed in the hunt to win the league at any stage, even if they had dropped off the pace by the time the game was played. On this occasion for Chelsea they have been given an unexpected way in.

It is the sort of game, playing last and in full knowledge of how their rivals have left things, that is crucial to deciding just where the trophy ends up come the end of the season. Chelsea are adamant they aren't in this conversation but win against Brentford and Arsenal and Liverpool will have allowed them to glide in with swagger, style, and quality.

Maybe, at this stage, it will be worth asking if Chelsea themselves have exerted pressure here and are playing the role of Leicester City in 2015/16. We all know how that turned out.