Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has played down the club’s hopes of winning the Premier League this season saying the major focus is to finish in top four.
Tuchel noted that Manchester City who sits at the top of the league table are 16 points above Chelsea who were earlier tipped as the favourite to win the league this season due to their brilliant start.
However, other clubs are in contention with Chelsea to finish in top four to be eligible to take part in the UEFA Champions League next season. Manchester United, West Ham, Arsenal, and Tottenham are clubs that battle with Chelsea for a top-four spot.
Tuchel noted that though it will be a wide goose chase to look toward challenging Manchester City who are 16 points clear of Chelsea, the team must be concerned about other clubs who are ready to compete for the top four spots.
Addressing the media during a news conference on Friday, he said, “Everything is quite hard and that is the challenge.
“Sixteen points sounds too much, it’s too much to where we want to be and what we demand of ourselves.
“We should not get confused in thinking about winning the Premier League. We have to realise we are in the race for the top four right now which is a huge thing in the Premier League in general.
“We will not start judging competitions now. The most important thing is tomorrow against Crystal Palace and after that, we switch because are in a lot of competitions which is a good sign, we should not lose faith now,” he added.
Read Also: NEC: Scarcity Of Fuel Will Be Over Next Week
Chelsea will returning to take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park after a short break from Premier League action due to the FIFA World Club event where they won Palmeiras 2-1 in the final.
Moreover, Despite Romelu Lukaku scoring a goal in the World Club Cup, the player who was bought for £97.5m from Inter Milan has not been able to prove his worth in the Premier League.
Tuchel said, “We need a bit of more patience than we perhaps all wanted to have with his signing.
“We demand a lot of our strikers in terms of intensity, so there are several reasons why things are maybe like this.
“There are teams who heavily rely on one goal scorer, that is no secret, but there are teams who rely on more shoulders. So both ways work and we want to bring Romelu to better situations. It’s an ongoing process.
“We still have trust because he has proved at any of the clubs he’s been that he is the guy who gets the last touch on the end of attacks.
“Disappointed is not the right word but, of course, we thought for him, I’m pretty sure for him as well he wanted to produce the numbers right from the start. We are all humans and we keep on going,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Chelsea boss disclosed that Mason Mount, despite his injury, is pushing hard to ensure he features against Liverpool in the final of the Carabao Cup on February 27.
