Chelsea cannot catch Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League’s top-four race and must salvage their season by winning the FA Cup, skipper Gary Cahill conceded after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham at Stamford Bridge.
Javier Hernandez came off the bench to snatch a late equaliser for the visitors at the Bridge after a profligate Chelsea had failed to capitalise on Cesar Azpilicueta’s first-half opener.
Following the 1-1 draw with the Hammers, the Blues are 10 points behind Tottenham with just 6 games remaining in the league this season.
Antonio Conte’s men were in second place after thrashing Stoke City 5-0 in December but a poor run of results in 2018, which includes just 3 wins in 11 league games, has seen us slip to 5th.
Cahill believes that Chelsea won’t be able to make it to the top four this season, however, insists that the club must do everything to win the FA Cup, where we face Southampton in the semi-finals later this month.
“If you’re asking me if Tottenham are going to drop eight points plus, it is not going to happen. A good team is not going to let that kind of lead slip,” Cahill was quoted by the Evening Standard.
“We’ve done it before when we were top of the league, it doesn’t slip. If you’re a good side, which they are, it doesn’t slip.
“I will be very, very doubtful if that is the situation. The way that me and my team-mates play, we don’t give up on anything, but we know that the season hasn’t gone to plan.
“The league is where it is at the minute and we have the FA Cup to rescue the season. The season is about trying to win the FA Cup.”
Certainly, Chelsea’s hopes of playing Champions League football next season are very much dead and buried. Spurs are a team brimming with confidence and I agree with our skipper’s thoughts about the North Londoners not surrendering a 10-point lead.
The FA Cup remains our only hope of silverware this season and let us hope Conte and co. put everything on the line to win it this season.