Maurizio Sarri has admitted that it will not be easy for Chelsea to finish in the top four places following this afternoon’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.
After a goalless first half at Anfield in which both sides struggled to create too many clear-cut chances, Liverpool wasted no time after the break, with Sadio Mane opening the scoring on 51 minutes after getting on the end of a chipped Henderson cross, before Mohamed Salah scored an absolute thunderbolt just 142 seconds later to put the Reds 2-0 up.
There were a few nervy moments for the hosts, with Eden Hazard seeing an effort come back off the post before Reds ‘keeper Alisson saved a close-range effort from the in-form Belgian.
Speaking about the game, Maurizio Sarri thought that Chelsea played ‘very well’, and thinks that his side is ‘going in the right way’.
“We played a good match against wonderful opponents,” Sarri told Sky Sports. “We stayed in the match for 50 minutes. After the second goal – a shocking goal in a good way for them but not for us – we reacted. We had two or three opportunities to score but I think we played very well.
“Probably at this moment they are better than us but we are going the right way. After the second goal, we had three opportunities with Eden and Higuain. We were not lucky for sure. We hit the post for the 35th time in our season.
“In my opinion, we are going in the right way. We are improving. Three months ago we were not able to stay in the match.”
While Chelsea remain in the top four, they are only two points ahead of Manchester United and three ahead of Arsenal, who both have games in hand on the West London club. Asked what the result means for their Champions League qualification ambitions, the Italian admitted that it will be difficult.
“It’s not easy of course but we have to fight to the end. It will be very hard for every team in the last month of the season. We can expect very strange results in last month because we are tiring like all the other teams.”
See also: Martin Keown predicts who will finish in the top four.
