We wont achieve either with Sarri in charge, simple as that.

Europa all the way. Is a trophy and same reward as top 4. I dont have faith in Sarri to achieve either though. 

Bob hope and no hope in either unfortunately

Looking at the remaining fixtures I have no doubt that the other 3 teams will all drop points here and there. However I think we will probably need at least 15 more points out of last 7 games to give ourselves a realistic chance of top 4. Even if we manage to win our 4 remaining home games, we have 3 very tricky looking away games left and will have to improve our form on the road.

Arsenal are currently the front runners in the race for the top 4  and they have the easiest fixture list, I honestly don't see them dropping more points than us before the end of the season so I'd put my money on us finishing below Arsenal and them taking one of the top 4 spots. Tottenham also have an easier fixture list but they have been as inconsistent as us so anything can happen there. However, even if they do fall below us there is still United to worry about.

United really is where most of the money lies. Their fixture list is pretty much on par with us and even do their form has been better than us, it hasn't been completely solid. I think whether we make the top 4 or not will really depend on the game against United. If Sarri is still the manager, and still stubborn to change things then I, however, don't see us winning that game which is why I believe we should put more of our eggs into the Europa League basket. We have an easier fixture list and there are fewer factors that can influence our outcome. We also have been playing better there so there might be more motivation. I'd also honestly prefer winning a trophy than finishing 4th without silverware.

5 hours ago, forbzy said:

Our form in Europa has been better but mostly because of the lineups we have put out. I think Sarri has prioritized the league, and given more opportunities to other squad players in the Europa. This has led to much better performances in those games, although the weaker opposition should also be noted. Based on our fixtures in April this may continue when we play Slavia. However if we make the semi-finals I expect Sarri to play the usual suspects at which point we will probably flounder.

1

And this is my main worry. I feel like even if we make the final, Sarri will drop all the players that got us there in favour for the usual Willians, Pedros, and Barkleys which will most likely lead to a loss

I would agree with the overall mentality of your post being 1 point behind 3rd place; it would be silly to just give up on top 4 and focus on Europa. With that being said, we should be putting our primary energy into winning the Europa League but we shouldn't sacrifice PL matches for it. I feel like we can juggle both as we are not in the FA Cup anymore. Hopefully we win the Europa League and finish 3rd -- 

"We will see" -- Eden Hazard

1 minute ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I would agree with the overall mentality of your post being 1 point behind 3rd place; it would be silly to just give up on top 4 and focus on Europa. With that being said, we should be putting our primary energy into winning the Europa League but we shouldn't sacrifice PL matches for it. I feel like we can juggle both as we are not in the FA Cup anymore. Hopefully we win the Europa League and finish 3rd -- 

"We will see" -- Eden Hazard

We are three points behind third with a worse GD so that basically makes it four points. So its very unlikely that we'll catch Arsenal at this point.
Especially considering we have to go to Anfield and Old Trafford and we won't win both.

6 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

We definitely have the hardest run in. I wouldn't give up on either and want to see our best team every match, however i'd rather us win the Europa league and finish 6th than finish 4th with no silverware.

I'm serious on this question.... Do you think Sarri has any idea what our best team is? 

If you put a gun to his head and said "win or I'll shoot you" what would his lineup be? 

Assuming you had to pick a 4-3-3, I'd go like this 

Kepa

Dave, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson 

Kante, Kovacic, RLC 

Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard 

11 minutes ago, Sindre said:

We are three points behind third with a worse GD so that basically makes it four points. So its very unlikely that we'll catch Arsenal at this point.
Especially considering we have to go to Anfield and Old Trafford and we won't win both.

Yeah I didn't even think about the GD part of it... City, Bournemouth and Everton really killed the goal difference

We will probably throw everything at Europa league if the next few fixtures don't go our way. We have liverpool very soon which will be extremely tough and could drop points.

We have an (on paper) easier tie in the EL than most too. I think we have to get to the EL final at minimum, and winning it we may need to. 

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

We are three points behind third with a worse GD so that basically makes it four points. So its very unlikely that we'll catch Arsenal at this point.
Especially considering we have to go to Anfield and Old Trafford and we won't win both.

We wont win either. We will be lucky if we dont get city repeats in them.

9 hours ago, Skinnedy said:

I'm serious on this question.... Do you think Sarri has any idea what our best team is? 

If you put a gun to his head and said "win or I'll shoot you" what would his lineup be? 

Assuming you had to pick a 4-3-3, I'd go like this 

Kepa

Dave, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson 

Kante, Kovacic, RLC 

Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard 

Wouldn’t be starting Higuain again ahead of Giroud. No chance though as his favourite Jorginho will start.

11 hours ago, Skinnedy said:

I'm serious on this question.... Do you think Sarri has any idea what our best team is? 

If you put a gun to his head and said "win or I'll shoot you" what would his lineup be? 

Assuming you had to pick a 4-3-3, I'd go like this 

Kepa

Dave, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson 

Kante, Kovacic, RLC 

Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard 

Genuinely don't like the idea of CHO and Hazard in the same team. Our two worst players defensively. Add in RLC who doesn't track back either and we could end up being quite exposed against a Napoli / arsenal. 

11 hours ago, Sindre said:

We are three points behind third with a worse GD so that basically makes it four points. So its very unlikely that we'll catch Arsenal at this point.
Especially considering we have to go to Anfield and Old Trafford and we won't win both.

Arsenal have only won 5 out their 14 away games this season. They have 5 out of their 7 games left away, all against teams that can easily cause an upset. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see arsenal lose 2 or 3 of those games. 

Whether we can capitalize though is the question. If we can win our home games, and get at least 4 points from the away games, I think we will qualify. 

I think spurs have the best run in. 5 games at home, all very winnable, and trip to Bournemouth in the spring is usually a nice game. City away is tough, but they wouldn't need to get anything from that if they win the others.

I remember last year we all though top 4 was lost when we got beat by spurs, but we dropped points against west ham, huddersfield, and Newcastle, in the last 6 games. Wins in those 3 wouldve seen us joint 3rd. 

 

12 hours ago, Skinnedy said:

I'm serious on this question.... Do you think Sarri has any idea what our best team is? 

If you put a gun to his head and said "win or I'll shoot you" what would his lineup be? 

Assuming you had to pick a 4-3-3, I'd go like this 

Kepa

Dave, Rudiger, Christensen, Emerson 

Kante, Kovacic, RLC 

Hudson-Odoi, Higuain, Hazard 

I'd swap Kovacic for Jorginho and Rudiger for Luiz personally, rest of the team i agree with.

47 minutes ago, big blue said:

Arsenal have only won 5 out their 14 away games this season. They have 5 out of their 7 games left away, all against teams that can easily cause an upset. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see arsenal lose 2 or 3 of those games. 

Whether we can capitalize though is the question. If we can win our home games, and get at least 4 points from the away games, I think we will qualify. 

I think spurs have the best run in. 5 games at home, all very winnable, and trip to Bournemouth in the spring is usually a nice game. City away is tough, but they wouldn't need to get anything from that if they win the others.

I remember last year we all though top 4 was lost when we got beat by spurs, but we dropped points against west ham, huddersfield, and Newcastle, in the last 6 games. Wins in those 3 wouldve seen us joint 3rd. 

Spurs at home isn't like anyone else at home. They've never played there before, I wouldn't be surprised if they continue their poor form at their new place. Remember how bad they were at Wembley when they started!

We need to beat united away if we are to have a chance imo and win the vast majority of the others.

I'd take 6th though if we beat Liverpool. f**k everything else, that would be sweet. 

Our next 2 league games are crucial. If we can beat Brighton and West Ham that'll be 3 league wins on the bounce and will give us a lot of momentum going into the Europa League/Liverpool matches. Liverpool have so much pressure on them at the moment, it's not easy fighting for the league and they haven't been that good of late - they've been grinding out the results. They also still have the champions league to think about.

We can definitely beat both Liverpool & United away - and I think we will! I'm more worried about playing the likes of Brighton and West Ham who will most likely park the bus. If we win our next 2 league games we will finish top 4.

1 minute ago, DannyVblue said:

Our next 2 league games are crucial. If we can beat Brighton and West Ham that'll be 3 league wins on the bounce and will give us a lot of momentum going into the Europa League/Liverpool matches. Liverpool have so much pressure on them at the moment, it's not easy fighting for the league and they haven't been that good of late - they've been grinding out the results. They also still have the champions league to think about.

We can definitely beat both Liverpool & United away - and I think we will! I'm more worried about playing the likes of Brighton and West Ham who will most likely park the bus. If we win our next 2 league games we will finish top 4.

Admire your optimism there mate

5 minutes ago, drjonesy1994 said:

Admire your optimism there mate

There is all to play for mate. I know performances haven't been good of late, but on our day we can beat anyone. And we've proved that this season with wins against Arsenal, Spurs, City and Liverpool already.

1 minute ago, DannyVblue said:

There is all to play for mate. I know performances haven't been good of late, but on our day we can beat anyone. And we've proved that this season with wins against Arsenal, Spurs, City and Liverpool already.

Yeah agree that on our day we can bit anyone. It would be "typical" Chels to win those United/ Liverpool games and then bottle it elsewhere!

Top 4 is pretty much done, don't expect 3 teams above us dropping many points to let us get back in. Having said that, still expect we spoil the party at Anfield and OT. Europa league is our best chance, let's hope Sarri don't mess with the Europa league team, Giroud/CHO are all in good forms in that comp.

6 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I'd swap Kovacic for Jorginho and Rudiger for Luiz personally, rest of the team i agree with.

I like having Kovacic for a little more defensive cover. I think with Hazard, CHO and RLC we're OK offensively, so I like having Kovacic back and I like Rudiger's pairing with Christensen for defense. In one game I had to win, I don't trust Luiz. 

But those aren't changes I'd get in a big argument over if I was your co-manager. 

We'd come to blows before I'd let you start Willian... But I don't think that'd be necessary... Lol. 

But it leads me to the point... Which competition should we focus on? How can we honestly tell? The way Sarri picks a team, it's hard to figure out his focus 

8 hours ago, DannyVblue said:

There is all to play for mate. I know performances haven't been good of late, but on our day we can beat anyone. And we've proved that this season with wins against Arsenal, Spurs, City and Liverpool already.

Flip side to that is we look capable of losing to almost everyone too. With loses to Leicester, Wolves, Bournemouth and Everton.

It’s not so much that our form is erratic but more that we can’t be relied upon to beat even the most lowly opposition because we have no answer to teams that sit deep.

Sides, like those you’ve mentioned, are more confident of beating us so commit more men forward allowing us space to work with, which lower sides don’t. 

Tonight’s result blows the top 4 wide open, Wolves did us a big favour, top 4 Citeh, liv, Us or the Arse!