Ex-Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit expects his former club to finish in the Champions League places.
Enzo Maresca’s side have struggled for form of late but, speaking to pokerfirma.com, Petit says he can see no reason why the Blues can’t finish in the top 5:
“Chelsea and Manchester City, they are five and six points behind Nottingham Forest at the moment. When you look at the schedule of the games, Nottingham have big, big games coming up until the end of the season. But it’s the same for Chelsea, it’s the same for Manchester City. They’re all in a high-pressure situation now.”
“There are clubs behind them, teams like Newcastle and Brighton, Fulham and Villa that are not far from them. It’s going to be very competitive between all of those clubs until May and a lot of them are playing each other. Chelsea are playing against Nottingham Forest in the last game of the season.”
“Who knows who will finish in the top five. Things move very fast in the Premier League, and there’s still nine games to go. Nottingham Forest have shown great character and personality. They deserve to be where they are. Fifth position would probably qualify for the Champions League, so I don’t see why Chelsea should not be able to keep this position.”
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Petit has predicted how the final top 5 will look
The former France international doesn’t expect that the final table will look much different to what it is now.
Petit believes Liverpool will finish the season top of the table with Arsenal as runners-up. He thinks Nottingham Forest will end up third with Chelsea and Manchester City making up the rest of the top 5 positions. There is no room for Newcastle or Aston Villa.
Chelsea need to find another gear
Since the New Year, it is fair to say that Maresca’s men have not really produced a standout display. Things actually started to go wrong with the home defeat against Fulham on Boxing Day, and since then, they have secured wins in just four league games, all of which have come at home.
To ensure the Blues do seal Champions League qualification, they will need to show a bit more quality, especially when they face the likes of Tottenham, Fulham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Forest over the coming weeks.
Read our exclusive interview with Danny Murphy as he reveals what he’s heard about the future of a Chelsea target