Chelsea are one of the teams in the EPL who are very serious but the manager doesn't have the balls to admit it and I believe he has made the player to accept it that they're not in any way qualified to be title contenders. Is a shameful thing to say that a club you're managing are not yet in the title race even when you see how awesome you team have been doing even better than the current Champions and the league leaders. I think Enzo Maresca learnt a lesson from the other coaches who got fired, he noticed that the Chelsea club and the fans have this kind of pressure they inflict on every new manager to always take them to the top even when they know is not immediately it had to happen. Enzo is not really using mind game per say but he is avoiding being pressured and he also wants the players to play without pressure and he feels it will help them do well.
You can say whatever you want, but now they are two points behind Liverpool, which means they are very close and now we can say that they will try to fight for the championship title. I understand that Liverpool still have a game in hand, and they can increase this gap to 5 points, but given that less than half of the season has been played, there will still be plenty of time to fight.
It is undeniable if chelsea is currently more consistent compared to other teams, even arsenal and manchester city who are expected to be able to provide competition in the race for the championship trophy this season instead they show poor performance, the decline in the performance of several big teams has provided a great opportunity for chelsea to become a title challenger with Liverpool, the support of enzo's strategy and also the many talented players they recruited at the end of last season have had a lot of significant impact, although currently Liverpool are two goals ahead plus have 1 game postponed, but at least their journey will not be easy to win the championship trophy, if Chelsea can continue to maintain their consistency and distance in the current standings.