Chelsea are “better” and “closer” to winning the Premier League than they were last season, but Enzo Maresca stopped short of actually saying his side can win the title.

Premier League leaders Arsenalwere held to a 1-1 draw by Chelseaon Sunday in a fiery match at Stamford Bridge.

The result leaves Maresca’s men six points behind the Gunners after 13 games, and they likely would have taken all three points had Moises Caicedo not been sent off in the first half.

Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal: Key statistics

• Aerial duel win %: Chelsea 71 – 29 Arsenal
• Accurate passes: 216 – 387
• Key passes: 10 – 7
• Clearances: 30 – 18

It was a terrific performance from Chelsea, who never looked like they were a man down. Maresca is confident his team are improving and praised his players for coping so well at 10v11 against Europe’s most in-form side.

He told Sky Sports: “I think we showed we are heading in the right direction. I always say the same.

“The performance has been fantastic. We were a much better team than them 11 v 11, but with 10 players it is difficult – yet we dealt with it outstandingly.

“11 v 11, we were better than them. We tried to exploit the best solution, the best space. We knew the space was for Malo [Gusto] and Estevao on that side. Tonight we can be happy even if we didn’t win.”

READ:?Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1: Caicedo v Rice debate can be considered dead, but the title race is alive

Maresca continued: “It’s football. It’s between Chelsea and Arsenal.

“You have to double the effort, that is the most important thing. We didn’t change a lot on the ball. We tried to go to Liam [Delap]. In open play, the idea was exactly the same.”

But are Chelsea title contenders, Enzo? That’s the question, especially after you denied it last season and your team’s form declined soon after.

“I think we are better than last season,” the Blues head coach said. “We are closer. We’ll see where we are in February and March and then we’ll assess our target.”

Maresca also discussed Caicedo’s red card for his challenge on Mikel Merino, calling for consistency after Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur avoided a dismissal against Chelsea earlier this season.

He said: “I struggle to understand the different ways to judge. What about Bentancur on Reece [James]? Why is one a red card and one isn’t? I think it’s a red card tonight, it’s clear. But why the difference? It is what it is.

“Moises is always the same. Top player for us. His desire is to try and win the game.”

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Chelsea ‘send message’ to Premier League with Arsenal draw

Player of the Match Reece James said Chelsea’s performance sent a message to the rest of the league.

“It was difficult,” he said. “We started well, started sharp. It got more difficult when we went down to 10. But if you look at the game collectively, we coped well with 10 against 11.

“The team is so young and we went toe to toe with the Premier League leaders. We didn’t show fear. We tried to come out to win the game and unfortunately we didn’t, but there are lots of positives to take.

“Our objective is always to win – this is Chelsea and the standards here are high. I think the performance will speak for itself and send a message to the other teams in the league.”