Top 4 race Maur hard work now
MAURIZIO SARRI need only look at the names still in the hunt for European glory to appreciate why the Premier League top-four fight is so fierce.
No fewer than English clubs will be involved in the Champions League and Europa League Quarter-Finals next month – which adds up to a lot of quality battling over four league places back on these shores.
And it in turn helps explain why Chelsea – title winners twice in the last four years – are struggling to nail down a Champions
League spot.
At least that’s how
Blues boss Sarri called it going into this afternoon’s trip to Everton.
The Italian, whose side are three points behind fourth-placed
Arsenal with a game in hand, said: “It is even closer than I expected.
“But it can happen because the ability of two or three teams at the top is very high and, therefore, it’s very high for the other three teams.
“You can see in the Champions League and the Europa League, I think England is the only country who have five or six teams in the last eight.
“So we can understand very well how difficult it is in the Premier League.”
Chelsea breezed into the next round of the Europa League on Thursday after a 5-0 away win gave them an 8-0 aggregate victory over Dynamo Kiev.
But hat-trick hero Olivier Giroud, despite helping to book a last-eight showdown against Slavia Prague, is unlikely to start at Goodison Park.
Sarri admitted as much while confirming Argentina ace Gonzalo Higuain, who missed the trip to Ukraine with flu, is back in contention.
Chelsea need a victory to crank up the pressure on Manchester United and Arsenal above them with neither top-four rival in Premier League action.
Sarri added: “We are fighting for the top four and the game against Everton is very important. But unfortunately it will also be very difficult.
“We know we must fight until the last minute of the last game this season.
“It will not be easy for us – and it will not be easy for the others.”