The Blues suffered a shock 1-0 home to defeat to Leicester on Saturday to leave them 11 points adrift of Jurgen Klopp's Premier League leaders
Maurizio Sarri has thrown in the Premier League title towel, with the Chelsea boss considering it to be “impossible” for his side to catch Liverpool.
The Blues suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Leicester on Saturday to leave them a long way off the pace.
An 11-point gap to Jurgen Klopp’s table-toppers would need to be bridged in order for Sarri’s side to get back into the race.
The Italian cannot see that happening and admits his debut campaign at Stamford Bridge is set to see him finish without the English top-flight crown.
“It was impossible from the beginning of the season,” Sarri told BBC Sport.
“As I said at the beginning of the Premier League it is impossible to catch Liverpool and Manchester City, we have to be careful to stay close to the first four positions.”
Chelsea remain inside the top four for now, but have London rivals Arsenal breathing down their neck.
Only goal difference is separating the two sides at present, with Sarri admitting his concern at seeing the Blues drop points against so-called ‘smaller’ sides.
He added: “Yes it concerns me, we have to understand the reason for it.
“You can go 1-0 down, the important thing is how you are able to react. There was the time to score two goals today.”
Leicester broke the deadlock against Chelsea six minutes into the second half, with Jamie Vardy grabbing the only goal of the game.
“The match changed after the goal,” said Sarri.
“We played well for 55 minutes, after the goal the reaction was not the right reaction. We reacted a little shocked and with mental confusion.
“We had to only keep playing like we did before the goal, there was time to recover.
“I think that of course in some situations we were unlucky but I think that we could have done something better.”
Chelsea will be back in action on Boxing Day when they make the short trip to Watford, with it possible that they will have slipped out of the Champions League places by the time they take to the field.
muoabdenpr
124
Sarriball...I thought would be fun...but as it turns out it consists of a lots of useless passing and keeping the ball...this tactic is outdated. Spain won 2010 WC using this...and they have been humiliated ever since, cause almost everyone knows how to come up against it.. Moreover Jorginho just makes short passes, he hasn't got that "killer ball"... And, honestly I never thought I'd say this but Kante in that position is a liability ...even Drinkwater can play better than him there..Put Kante back, half our defensive troubles will be sorted...And Sarri really needs to fix these problems... Otherwise as history tells is Chelsea are no strangers to firing managers...
Halmoc
94
He annoys me to the brim with those mind boggling statement The day I find out why Alonso is played over Emerson and to be frank Willian @ 30 over Odoi I'll become a more knowledgeable man.. @ 30 u would expect Willian to play with experience but yet still Odoi will do a better job, becos he making a mistake is understandable.. Willian is so pathetic this season. If this is Sarri's skim to get a new LEFT WINGER whiles Odoi is a potential prospect to tutor I wil be most disappointed and won't have anything against Hazard if he leaves.. I will never forget when he said I work with wat is available.. So annoying..
MAKSUDLASKAR
84
Yeah.. This time Liverpool is surely going to win the title... Because They have got van dijk, Alisson, Salah..
Bucadeoy
80
Problems are all over..to start with the coach 1/ Kante is not offensive player that position needs Barkley or Loftus Cheeky. 2/Hazard keeps the ball too long and end up getting fouled hence allowing team to recover. 3/Willian uses one technique of cutting inside and try to shoot instead of passing. 4/Alonso no longer effective,corners and free kicks a mere waste... Average Team From defense to attack Alonso can't defend Willian don't look dangerous in attack No creative midfielder (We need Ces )
pudeimp
80
reading all these comments I have to smh before sarri came we were criticized for play too slow he is here and has turned Chelsea into an attacking team y'all aren't looking at the bigger picture here of maintaining champions league qualification rather fighting for the league right now Sarri made those comments because he wants the players to go out there and prove him wrong how can u be a champion if u don't know how to bounce back from losing #Patienceiskey
xforce
71
Yeah. The smoke just isn't enough to chock them
LaCeleste
60
Sarri shouldn’t talk like that, that’s how José Mourinho talked before he got sacked this year. There’s always hope in football, especially in EPL.
ngisilas
58
Sari definitely have some problems. but I think the game today can not be used to judge all that. The thing today is simple, Luck was not on our side. we did everything right but the day wasn't for us. Hit the post twice or so. and lost the game one nil. Nothing was wrong for Chelsea today except the result.