Maurizio Sarri acknowledges Chelsea can’t catch Liverpool in the title race
03 Jan 2019
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has said that the Blues are no longer capable of challenging Liverpool and Manchester City for the Premier League title after suffering their third defeat of the season against Leicester City at the Bridge. The west London side are currently 11 points adrift of Jurgen Klopp’s side after just 18 games into the season.
Speaking after the Blues’ 1-0 defeat to Leicester City, Sarri stressed that the Blues were never in the title hunt from the start of the season and their challenge has become impossible after the recent run of results. He added that the Blues may need to be wary of the teams behind them with a top-four finish likely to remain the objective for the rest of the season.
He told BBC Sport: ““It was impossible from the beginning of the season“. As I said at the beginning of the Premier League it is impossible to catch Liverpool and Manchester City. We have to be careful to stay close to the first four positions.It concerns me. We have to understand the reason for it. You can go 1-0 down, the important thing is how you are able to react. There was the time to score two goals today. The match changed after the goal. We played well for 55 minutes, after the goal the reaction was not the right reaction. We “reacted a little shocked“ and with mental confusion.”
With the defeat, the Blues find themselves equal on points with London rivals Arsenal and they are holding onto the final Champions League spot by virtue of only goal difference. As such, things don’t seem rosy for the west London side compared to the start of the season and they can’t afford to drop points during the forthcoming matches despite the congested schedule. Chelsea face Watford on the road in their next league fixture on Boxing Day.