Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has insisted the gap between his side and Arsenal remains "quite big".
The two teams head into Sunday's Premier League showdown at the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal sitting in second place in the top-flight table and having earned a quarter-final spot in the Champions League earlier this week.
By comparison, Chelsea are fourth in the standings and are competing in the Conference League, securing their own last-eight berth on Thursday night.
Ahead of their London derby, Chelsea trail their hosts by six points, yet Maresca is of the opinion that there is currently a bigger gulf in class and quality.
© Imago
What has Maresca had to say?
As quoted by The Standard, the Italian feels that Mikel Arteta's long-term stay at Arsenal provides them with a clear advantage ahead of their contest this weekend.
Maresca said: "It is quite big. The reason why is because they are working with the same manager for five years. The difference is quite important. With the same players, they already played for some important games.
"But our target, our duty is to close that gap between us and them. In this moment, the table just says the difference between us and them it's six points, if I am not wrong.
"So, we are quite close, but we still have 10 games to go. In this moment we have two targets, that is finish top four or five for Champions League and the other one is the Conference League.
He added: "They can be nine [clear of us]! At the moment, they are six. We are not focused if [the gap] can be three or nine or six. We are just focused on how we can do our game, how we can try to beat them. Then, hopefully, we can do that and we can be closer.
"It (second place) could be a target, for sure. It's our duty to do our best. But, at the same time, I think the target for us is Sunday's game and then game after game how we can go close."
© Imago
Daunting Emirates test for Chelsea
In the last 11 matches between the two clubs, Chelsea have prevailed on just one occasion, in August 2021 when Romelu Lukaku was making his second debut for the Blues.
Since then, Arsenal have recorded four wins and two draws in this fixture, Chelsea only avoiding defeat when they have faced the Gunners at Stamford Bridge.
On their last two visits to the Emirates, Chelsea have conceded eight goals, including five when they succumbed to a 5-0 reverse as recently as April.
Darren Plant
