With four top-flight matches remaining, the Blues sit fifth in the table. That would be enough to guarantee a return to the Champions League next season, but we are far from the only club in the hunt.

Going into this weekend's Premier League fixtures, just five points separate Newcastle United in third and Aston Villa in seventh. Several of the teams in the race also go head-to-head over the next month; Maresca has to take his side to Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, for instance.

Pressure will be a constant companion for all involved over the next month. Expectation, too. That's why Maresca has highlighted the need to avoid emotional highs and lows, and that the focus must remain on what can be achieved by the Blues.

'The mood is good and I’ve said for a few weeks now that it’s a matter of how we manage emotions until the end [of the season],' the Blues head coach explained.

'When we win games, we are happy and when we don’t win, we’re not happy. But it'll be a race until the end and we need to manage the emotions.

‘In this moment, the main thing is to watch ourselves and be focused on ourselves. This is the main point. For sure, there are more clubs involved [in the top-five race] but for us, it’s important to stay focused on ourselves.’

For Maresca and his players, the focus has shifted to Sunday's meeting with Liverpool. Arne Slot's side were crowned champions last week and overcame us earlier in the season at Anfield, although Slot stated in December that match was 'maybe the only game where I felt the other team were better than us.'

The Blues have also performed well on home soil this term; we have been beaten just twice at Stamford Bridge this term and are unbeaten in 2025. Yet Maresca knows the challenge that awaits on Sunday and will not be leaning on what has come before to defeat the Reds.

'We will prepare the game in the best way we can because we know how important it is for us. We know on the other side is a team that have shown how good they are all season.’ Maresca said.

'For sure when you win games, it’s much better. But every game is different history, a different game. We have four more games, starting with Liverpool, and hopefully we can win as much as we can.’