London, May 2 Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says Chelsea plan to honour the Premier League champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday
Liverpool will play their first match since winning the 2024/25 Premier League title, when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
Maresca wants his team to show their respect to the champions by giving them "a guard of honour" before the match.
"I think it's a tradition, it's something you have to do, and we want to do. First of all, they won the league, so they deserve that, and hopefully we can be there [as champions] very soon," said Maresca, at his pre-match press conference.
A guard of honour is the informal ceremony that takes place when a team plays a match after already securing the Premier League title. The players of the winning club - in this case, Liverpool - walk between two parallel lines of opposition players who stand and applaud.
There is no obligation or anything in the regulations that requires Premier League teams to provide a guard of honour. It is purely a voluntary show of respect for the achievements of their fellow professionals at another club.
Maresca dismissed the idea that this was a ‘good’ time to play the champions, pointing out the strengths the Reds have, but feels the Blues can go into the game with confidence following our fine run of recent results.
With points still up for grabs in the race for Champions League football, the head coach is hoping his side can secure a big victory and use that as a springboard for eventually bridging the gap to Liverpool going forward.
"It’s always nice to play in this kind of game, but I don’t think they [Liverpool] will be any different or relaxed because they have already won the title.
"They are a very good team and deserved to win the Premier League this season. The gap is there, you can see clearly. My feeling is we are in the right direction and hopefully this gap can be smaller and closer next season.
"Perhaps the difference [between the sides] is that they have probably been a lot more consistent compared to us over the entire season," he added.
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