Chelsea star Eden Hazard insists Chelsea would be happy just to secure a top-four finish this season and are not nursing title ambitions.
Chelsea was well beaten in their first league defeat of the season against London rivals Tottenham on Saturday.
They now sit fourth, seven points behind league leaders Manchester City having led the league table at some point in the season but Hazard admitted the reigning champions are currently the better side.
“We are thinking about finishing in the top four, not to be the champions. We know City are not much better than Chelsea but they are better at the moment,” Hazard told Evening Standard:
“City are better in a lot of things: possession; when they have chances, they score; maybe defensively they are better. They have top players.”
“Is it due to their consistency as well, winning game after game? Yes, of course. They are in a good momentum since last year and we need to be back like this.”
Chelsea’s form has nosedived slightly with just two wins from their last five games, but Hazard sees their upcoming Europa League clash against POAK Salonika and Saturday’s league match against Fulham as the perfect chance to regain their form.
He said: “It could have been a lot worse on Saturday. Everything was bad against Spurs. Against Tottenham, it is always going to be hard to start a game 2-0 down.”
“We tried to push but it was not enough. It was a bad day, we need to move forward and try to bounce back.”
“When you lose one, you don’t want to make it two. We have to win, we have to play better and win again.”
“We want to go on another unbeaten run now. We want to take points. The target is to finish in the top four. In the Premier League, anything can happen.”
“Next Sunday we can beat Fulham and other teams can lose points. There is no need to panic. We have been playing good football.”
“We have shown since the beginning of the season we are a good team. So no panic, just try to forget this game.”
Hazard also insisted the ankle knock he picked up is not as serious as first feared and will not keep him on the sidelines.
The Belgian said: ‘I don’t think it is bad, I just twisted my ankle. I will get it checked but I think it is minor and I don’t think I will be out for any period of time.’
Chelsea next face PAOK Thessaloniki in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday
