Bernardo Silva has said Chelsea are a long way behind pacesetters Arsenal and Manchester City this season as Graham Potter's side attempts to make a serious challenge for the top four. Having lost four of their last five league games heading into the domestic break, the Blues dropped off the pace.
A 2-0 win against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge proved to be the perfect return - other than Reece James' injury - especially with Tottenham dropping points against Brentford earlier in the day. As Potter now looks to embark on a run of form to propel his side from eighth in the table the competitive nature of the league has never been so apparent.
Albeit with 23 games left still to play, Chelsea are behind both Newcastle and Brighton in the table, with Fulham just two points further back. With a game in hand on fourth-placed Spurs, Chelsea can still cut the gap to the Champions League places down to three points.
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However, even with a win in the game in hand, Chelsea would still be 16 points off top spot with leaders Arsenal paving the way for those behind. The Blues are the lowest scorers after 15 games in the top half and have seen Erling Haaland hit the back of the net more times than the entire squad combined.
There has been a general upturn under Potter though, with an initial run of five games unbeaten, conceding just one goal and scoring eight. The victory over Bournemouth has revived hopes that a positive start to the new year can see them rise up the table quickly amongst their rivals.
Sitting behind Arsenal in second, 11 points ahead of Chelsea, Silva thinks that they might be too adrift for a true challenge. "Liverpool is 15 points behind Arsenal," he said. "That gap is not easy to recover but it's possible. Then United is closer, Tottenham is closer, Chelsea is far, far away so it's not going to be easy for them as well.
"It's the Premier League, so in two or three games if Arsenal start dropping points, then we're right with them and Liverpool are with us as well because they're not that far away. We haven't gotten to the end of the Premier League so everything can still happen, knowing that the teams that are 15 or more points behind it's quite a big gap, so it's not easy for them."
Chelsea are set to come face-to-face twice with City in January as they were drawn against each other in the third round of the FA Cup, which is being played before the league match earlier in the same week.
Having already lost out to Pep Guardiola's side in the Carabao Cup it will offer Potter the chance to make a statement as head coach and prove a point that Chelsea aren't as far away from as it seems.
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