Thomas Tuchel acknowledges that his Chelsea side cannot afford the blips in form they suffer if they hope to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title in the future. The title-challengers have distanced themselves at the top of the table to leave the Blues 13 points behind the second-placed Reds and 14 behind the Citizens.
The Blues boss has often spoken about his ambition to close the gap to the league's top two teams but Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have set a tremendous pace once again at the top of the table. From the beginning of the 2018/19 season just one point separates the teams on 338 and 337 points respectively. The Blues also sit third over that period on 264, ahead of Manchester United on 257, Tottenham on 246 and Arsenal on 241.
Klopp has been in charge of Liverpool for almost seven years and elevated the side to regular challengers for the title, while Guardiola has been at the Etihad since 2016 and hinted at the possibility of extending his stay on Friday afternoon. The former Barcelona coach said: “I'm under contract here, I'm so happy here. I'm willing to stay forever here. Cannot be a better place to be, I'd extend the contract 10 years.”
