Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has brushed off talk of a potential title challenge following the Blues’ 2-1 victory over Newcastle on Sunday.
The win means that the Italian has continued his strong start to life at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have won all three of their league games so far, being one of only three teams to do so, along with Liverpool and Watford.
Expectations for this season among pundits and even some fans were not high. Many predicted that the Blues would struggle to mount a top-four challenge this season. The loss of Thibaut Courtois to Real Madrid was a major blow, while squad chemistry was also said not to be great due to behind the scenes disagreements between former boss Antonio Conte and the club’s board.
The Blues also did not have a particularly impressive summer transfer window in terms of signings. They did bring in Jorginho from Napoli and new goalkeeper Kepa from Athletic Bilbao. In spite of this, it is widely believed that they lack pedigree in their forwards department. While Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud are decent strikers, it is debatable as to whether they are the type of players who can be near the top of the goal scorers charts alongside the likes of Harry Kane and Mo Salah.
Morata clearly misfired during his first season in England last term, while the 31-year-old Giroud is past his best years. The impressive start to the campaign under Sarri, however, is certainly encouraging and is something that the club can aim to build upon. Next up for the Blues is a clash against modest Bournemouth on Saturday. Eddie Howe’s side may have started this season in decent form, picking up several points from their three games so far, but it would be realistic to target three points from the game.
Sarri is not yet considering the possibility of a title challenge. When asked about what he thinks about Chelsea’s current positioning in the standings, he said, as quoted by the Chelsea website: “Nothing because it’s about 38 matches. It’s important to start very well but now the table is not important.”
