Chelsea may have recorded their sixth consecutive Premier League victory against Crystal Palace but Jose Mourinho still harbours a number of doubts about Frank Lamapard's team.
The Blues beat Palace 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to move up to third, level on points with second-placed Leicester and five points behind leaders Liverpool.
However, Mourinho believes a top-two finish will be a step too far.
'In the first weekend, I was worried and I am still worried,' he said during Sky's Premier League coverage on Sunday.
'I think fantastic work - the kids that are coming to the team are fitting amazingly well with the top class players like Willian and (N'Golo) Kante.
'Really great work by Frank but they have lost twice against Manchester United, they lost against Liverpool at home, they conceded four goals against Ajax and I am very curious to see Chelsea in the next match at the Etihad because I think I am curious to see if they found that great empathy between the good football they play and the pragmatism they must have to play against the top teams.
'When they find that I think they have a great team for the future. I don't think they have it in them to finish in the top two - but I believe very seriously that they will finish top four.'
Postmanin
1742
----Before the season Mourinho: Man City, Liverpool, Spurs and Man City B team will finish at top four ----Now Mourinho: Chelsea will finish in top 4 Chelsea is B Team of Man City or he's just bad at maths? Or...Maybe he's mad.
sibeilmno
567
He has a point here. He said we should balance the play. When playing bigger teams, Lamp has to be a bit pragmatic. He can't always open and play to the strength of our rivals as we have done twice to man United and Liverpool. Against Man City let's see what Lamp does tactically against Pep. Jose is clear and we have to understand.
dezbdios
212
We neededed afew games to prove to them we are a strong side, irrespective of many injuries, and hazard not being part of us. All we need is a few more games for them to call us title contenders.
dennisachafu
140
The problem we have while playing big teams under Lampard is team balance midfield vulnerability. I've seen it against Man utd, Liverpool and Ajax.We tend to play big teams like the way we approach small teams. We're not always patient while playing big teams. We tend to attack more and leave space for the opponents to counter. Mason Mount is good but Lampard should consider leaving him in big matches so as to accommodate Kante, Joginho and Kovacic. With this, we can control more possession and allow Willian and Pulisic to do the damage and don't forget also that Kante can score. Finally, we should learn how to defend against big teams than to come from a goal or goals behind. If we manage to score a goal, we can protect it and find another one through counter attack.
eljayodede
111
most Chelsea fans can be so insensitive, if you drop sentiment you will see truth in what he is saying, he acknowledged the fact that we are playing good football but we are yet to beat big EPL club and even lost to united twice, so he is simply saying, if we can get result from top clubs then top 2 is ours but for now and with our nice play, top 4 is ours and the insensitive ones are insulting the man, our best coach ever no doubt about that, he said we can't get top four this season, which was same mind set of almost all Chelsea fans at the beginning of the season, giving the fact that we got thrashed by manU at the beginning, so why all this riculous insaults, the same insensitive fans that were saying "I don't expect anything from the team this season" the same fans that were quick to turn off their tv or walk off the stadium when we were 4 - 1 down against Ajax, I keep praying for something to chase away all the "up NEPA" Chelsea fans because I get bored by their hypocrisy