Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SARRI: LET’S GO FOUR IT
Chelsea boss believes they will be fighting for Champions League until ‘the last minute of the last match’
MAURIZIO SARRI has warned Chelsea against another “disaster” in their roller-coaster season, as he predicted the race for the final Champions League place will go to “the last minute of the last match”.
The Blues will climb back into the top four tomorrow with a convincing win over Wolves, if rivals Arsenal and Manchester United draw at the Emirates.
Chelsea are back on track after three consecutive wins in all competitions – including the 3-0 Europa League victory over Dynamo Kiev – since the Kepa Arrizabalaga affair during the League Cup final.
But Sarri’s side went on an 18-match unbeaten run at the start of the season, before three Premier League defeats in a month, including at Molineux in December.
And the Italian warned the Blues cannot afford any more slip-ups in the final 10 league games of an unpredictable campaign. “We have two big opportunities – this match and when we play the (rearranged) game against Brighton,” said the Chelsea boss (below).
“But I think we are fighting and we will be fighting for the top four until the last minute of the last match. Every match will be important in our future.
“In the end, the
Kepa situation was a good thing for our group, too. In the last five matches, we won four matches and drew against Manchester City. In five matches, we conceded only one goal. So we are improving consistency.
“But we have to be careful. We had a long period of good results in the past and then, suddenly, two weeks of disaster. So, we have to be careful.”
In the Wolves defeat, Ruben Loftuscheek scored early and Chelsea squandered more chances, before the hosts scored twice after the break. “I remember very well that, after the goal at 1-1, we stopped playing,” said the former Napoli boss. “We were in trouble and stopped playing completely. We only started again in the last 10 minutes.
“If you stop, you can lose against any team. If you stop against Manchester City, you can lose 6-0. We stopped after 50-55 minutes for 20 minutes at Wolverhampton, and that was enough to lose the game.
“When I speak about us improving our mentality and consistency, it is about these problems. I need to study that match very well. We need to arrive there with the right level of preparation and mentality.”