Chelsea traveled to Manchester City on Saturday to learn that victory is essential if they are to keep pace with the relentless Premier League leaders this season.
City’s 11th consecutive league win – a 2-1 eventual success at Arsenal on New Year’s Day – saw the champions 10 points clear of second-placed Chelsea as Pep Guardiola’s side finished with another sky-high point total. Hoping to retain the title. ,
The run is the fifth time City have won 11 or more consecutive wins in the competition, although not all has been lost for Chelsea prior to the trip to the Etihad Stadium as three of the last four such runs ended in a home match.
Thomas Tuchel’s European champions have struggled to compete in the form of their opening season of late after taking one win and four draws in their last five league games.
The German is fully aware of how difficult it will be to overhaul City’s advantage and prevent the league leaders from making four Premier League titles in five seasons.
“They are relentless,” Tuchel told reporters after his side’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool in Chelsea’s last league match.
“They know what it takes to make these high-point seasons over and over again. We’re next in that race but it’s a big difference. Maybe we need more than one season to catch Man City Ho.”
duel derby
The two sides whose fortunes have improved in recent months meet on Sunday, when Arsenal travel to Tottenham Hotspur in a fifth tour, marking three straight home league games against their north London rivals for the first time since August 1961. wants to win.
Sixth-placed Spurs are now two points behind Arsenal with two games remaining unbeaten in their eight league games under new boss Antonio Conte, the best unbeaten start for a Tottenham manager in the club’s league history.
However, Chelsea’s poor performance in both legs of their League Cup semi-final loss over the past two weeks left Conte knowing how much work he had to do.
“There is a significant gap, a significant gap, a big job to reclaim the position,” Conte said of the quality gap between Spurs and Chelsea after last week’s first-leg loss at Stamford Bridge.
“If We Think We’re Close” [to Chelsea] We are not in the right way.”
Arsenal are in a similar position to Spurs, given that their recent improvement under Mikel Arteta has faltered with a home defeat by Manchester City in last weekend’s third round before being knocked out of the FA Cup by second-tier Nottingham Forest.
FALTERNG Manchester United
Seventh-placed Manchester United travel to Aston Villa on Saturday as they look to reverse their faltering season. Under interim coach Ralph Rangnick, results have improved, but performance has been inconsistent.
United were privileged to overtake Villa in the FA Cup on Monday, with Cristiano Ronaldo issuing a rallying cry for his underperforming team this week.
He told Sky Sports, “We know we’re not playing the best football, but we have a lot of games to improve. I don’t want to be in sixth place or seventh or fifth here. I’m here to win. to try.”
After winning six matches in November and December, third-placed Liverpool – who are 11 points behind City but have a game in hand – are without a win in their last three league matches before traveling to Brentford on Sunday. .
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