Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri believes only Manchester City and Liverpool are guaranteed to finish in the top-four of the Premier League this season.
The Blues were defeated 3-1 by London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium yesterday, with Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min all scoring against the visitors, who scored through Olivier Giroud late on.
Manchester City and Liverpool guaranteed a top-four finish?: Five things you need to know
- Pep Guardiola’s City side smashed West Ham United 4-0 at the London Stadium yesterday to continue their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
- Likewise, Liverpool scored three at Watford to ensure they remain unbeaten 13 matches into the campaign.
- In contrast, Chelsea’s defeat to Spurs means they recorded their first defeat in the league this season.
- City and Liverpool have already created a large gap between themselves and fifth-place Arsenal, with the teams 11 points and nine points clear respectively.
- Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have had a number of seasons to build their squads whereas Sarri only started his project at Chelsea late this summer.
Sarri spoke with reporters and discussed how he believes the top end of the Premier League will play out across the season. The former Napoli coach indicated that both City and Liverpool are certain to occupy two of the top four positions, with a group of teams battling it out for the remaining two places.
Chelsea’s Twitter account reported that Sarri said: “City and Liverpool are guaranteed top four positions this season, and that us and Spurs are among four or five teams that will have to fight for the remaining spaces (in the Champions League).”
Chelsea’s Premier League Christmas run-in
The Blues lost their claim as one of the three sides to remain unbeaten in the Premier League and even dropped below Spurs in the league table. With fifth-placed Arsenal having a game in hand, Chelsea could finish the weekend just a point above their London rivals.
With December just around the corner, the notorious hectic Christmas period is rapidly approaching and as ever it will be a vital time for all teams to get as many points on the board before the turn of the new year.
For Chelsea, they are involved in seven Premier League fixtures between now and the new year, with Sarri’s squad facing Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Leicester City, Watford and Crystal Palace.
The game against City aside, Chelsea will be looking at this run-in hoping to pick up some points against teams further down the division.
Of course, that isn’t necessarily how football works and with their involvement in both the Europa League and Carabao Cup still ongoing, Sarri will have to make use of the strength in depth he has at Stamford Bridge.
The post Man City and Liverpool have top four guaranteed, insists Sarri appeared first on Squawka News.
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