Chelsea coach, Thomas Tuchel does not believe his side has what it takes to cover the gap opened up by Manchester City and win their sixth Premier League title.
Chelsea led up until December when poor run of results gave room for City and Liverpool to overtake and open what now seems to be an unassailable lead, with more than half of the league season games played.
“Sixteen points sounds too much. It’s too much to where we want to be and what we demand of ourselves”, Tuchel said in a presser ahead of the game away to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
“It’s the reality, and first of all, to reach your target, I think realistic approach is also necessary. So we should not get confused and start thinking about winning the Premier League and still we have to realise that we are in the race for top 4 right now which is a huge thing in the Premier League in general.”
Chelsea travel to Crystal Palace in EPL Battle
Chelsea return to Premier League action after winning the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and will continue that Champions League defence against Lille next week Tuesday.
It’s back to Premier League action for Chelsea — a.k.a. the Champions of the World — as we make the short trip across London to Crystal Palace. The squad seem to be in relatively good health, with some noticeable exceptions and the usual long-term absentees, so there should be no excuses for the three points here.
Thiago Silva and Antonio Rüdiger are the clear first-choice options, and are joined by Andreas Christensen who just beats out Trevoh Chalobah (38%) and Malang Sarr (32%) in a tough battle for that third spot. César Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso continue to be virtually unopposed at wing-back despite Kenedy’s (8%) availability.
It was also an incredibly tight battle for the second spot beside Mateo Kovačić in midfield, but N’Golo Kanté narrowly edges past Jorginho (62%) in the end. Ruben Loftus-Cheek (6%) has finally returned from injury but he only manages to collect a few votes more than Saúl Ñíguez (4%) and Ross Barkley (<1%).
No doubts up front for the community, as the developing relationship between Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz continues, and this time joined by Hakim Ziyech’s magic left foot. Christian Pulisic (46%), Callum Hudson-Odoi (42%) and Timo Werner (29%) all miss out unless one of the first two deputizes for Azpi). Mason Mount is out with injury.