Who would have thought just a month ago that Chelsea would still be fighting for European places before the end of the championship? Before entering this 38th and final day where Bournemouth awaits them at Stamford Bridge, the Blues take advantage of their good form to climb to 6th place. They could even get past Tottenham on the wire in the event of a victory on Sunday, combined with a defeat for Spurs at Sheffield United. A real miracle after having been so off the mark throughout this exercise, all without a European Cup.
If we stay there, Chelsea would go to the Europa League next year but depending on the last day of the championship and the result of the FA Cup final, the London club could be transferred to the Europa Conference League. For this second scenario, Manchester United would have to beat Manchester City. Still, almost no one believed in a continental qualification at the start of April. The Blues then reached the first half of the table with difficulty. In the last 7 league matches, there was certainly a rout against Arsenal (5-0) but also 5 victories and a draw against Aston Villa.
Pochettino: “I’m so happy for the players”
Another notable performance. Wednesday evening, Mauricio Pochettino’s men won at Brighton (2-1). “It’s always difficult to face this team. We are very happy because these three points mean that we are closer to achieving our goalreacted the Argentinian coach, also evoking the merit of his protégés after so many complicated weeks. I’m so happy for the players. The credit goes to them after all this work, our approach to the game, what we try to implement in training. I am proud.”
The technician finally succeeds in putting things in place like these permutations between the full-backs and the central midfielders. On several occasions, we could see Gusto swapping places with Caicedo, same thing between Cucurella and Gallagher. In terms of bad news, Reece James, who came on in place of Gusto in the 69th minute, did not finish the match, being sent off for a bad move on Joao Pedro. The Englishwoman risks at least 4 games of suspension according to the English press, and therefore misses the next start of the season. Mudryk was injured.
Nkunku finally back
At Falmer Stadium, Cole Palmer struck again, scoring his 22nd Premier League goal, before Christopher Nkunku doubled the lead. This is the third achievement for the Frenchman, who only played 10 league games in his first season at Chelsea. This is the other satisfaction of the moment for the Blues. The former Parisian is back without any apparent embarrassment. If it is undoubtedly too late for him to join Didier Deschamps’ list, he will have to be reckoned with next season. And probably in a European Cup.
