All I want to see from our players in these last five games is 100% effort, whether that is then enough for us to get Champions League football or not, only time will tell. But at the very least, we have to fight with all we have.
When every single player is putting in 100% effort on the pitch at the same time, you have a MUCH better chance of success. In football you need a strong mentality as much as you need the quality. You need intensity as much as you need creativity, and you need heart and desire as much as you need good tactics.
If Chelsea’s players, and manager to be fair, can approach these last five games in the right way, then there is no reason at all why we cannot qualify for the Champions League this season. Am I confident? Nope. But I’m not out on the pitch and it is most important that those out on the pitch go into these games with confidence – it doesn’t matter if I have it or not.
Granted, mathematically it is no longer in our hands and it is a fact that if we qualify for the UCL now then it will be because others above us drop points. But the latter is VERY possible and is actually highly likely to happen. So we have to do what we can do to take advantage of that.
Take this weekend for example, if Chelsea beat Everton at home, then we will go above Nottingham Forest on goal difference because they have their FA Cup semi final against Manchester City this weekend and are not playing in the league until next Thursday against Brentford. So we could crank up the pressure on them and hand the onus to Forest.
With City not playing either, we have a chance to get just one point behind them on Saturday.
The downer is that Newcastle, who are just two points ahead of us right now, are home to Ipswich Town. I mean, the away side have beaten us 4-2 on aggregate this season so anything could happen, but I fully expect Toon to win that one and stay ahead of us regardless.
And again, what is also in our favour is that Aston Villa are in the other FA Cup semi final this Sunday so they do not play in the league. We also have a game in hand over them and are level on points so we can pull away from them by three points.
So all of this makes Saturday’s game absolutely huge. It’s a chance to pull back some points and stick the pressure back on those above us. Take it game by game, and then think about the next four. Win this, then go to the next one. Anything is possible.
Chelsea need both Forest and Toon to slip up to get back in the UCL places in these last games, or they need City to have another wobble which I cannot see now.
But Forest have some tough games too, they have to go away to Crystal Palace after Brentford and that is no easy place to go and win at.
We of course play against both of them in these final games as well so we can easily put it back in our own hands, and as well as that, Toon also go away to Arsenal.
It could all come down to our final game away at Forest on the 25th of May. But what we can do before that one is set ourselves up for it to be in our hands again.
Enzo Maresca, Reece James, Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill, Nicolas Jackson, and everyone else around you, NOW is the time to stand up, NOW is the time to prove the doubters wrong, NOW is the time to fight, and NOW is the time to leave it all out there. Just play with intensity, play direct, move the ball quick, get up the pitch quick, and show us something to be entertained by and applaud.
I might not have confidence, but I do have hope. And it’s never over until it’s over.
Let’s go Chels!
