Ben Chilwell helps explain how Chelsea can close the gap on Man City and Liverpool in the Premier League.
Last season, Chelsea finished 19 points behind champions Manchester City, but Ben Chilwell has a plan to close the gap on the top teams in the Premier League.
Chelsea are targeting a resurgence next season, according to Ben Chilwell, and hope to match the consistency of Liverpool and Manchester City.
Last season, the two Premier League titans had the title race to themselves, with Chelsea dropping out before Christmas. Despite this, Thomas Tuchel's Blues won the Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
However, Chilwell revealed that the players have discussed competing for the Premier League title. "100%," England's left back stated. "City and Liverpool have set the bar, perhaps for the last five years, that every other team in the league aspires to reach."
"As a Chelsea player, I'd say we're the closest to them, and we want to be on the same level." We showed in patches last season that we could compete with them, but it's their consistency that has set them apart — they're not one-season wonders, they've done it season after season for the last five years.
That is where we are attempting to arrive. We've discussed in the locker room, as players and as a staff, that consistency is what we now need to [achieve].
"We have the talent on the team." We demonstrated this two years ago in the Champions League. We demonstrated it during the first half of last season, when we were at the top. In the Champions League, we defeated Juventus 4-0. So we've demonstrated that we have talent on the team. "All we need now is the consistency that Liverpool and City have."
Chilwell returned to training ahead of schedule to prepare for the upcoming season. He was injured for much of 2021-22, but he is currently on Thomas Tuchel's squad's pre-season tour in the United States.
Todd Boelhy has replaced Roman Abramovich as Chelsea's manager, following a dramatic second half of the season for the club. However, Chilwell revealed that the players remained calm during the storm and are in good spirits heading into the new campaign.
City and the club have agreed a £45 million deal for England winger Raheem Sterling. Chelsea are also interested in Leeds wideman Raphinha and are set to re-sign Dutch defender Nathan Ake from Manchester City.
"I think everyone on the outside assumes it's going to be difficult for us as players and staff in this building," Chilwell continued. But we know just as much as you do.
"We just focus on what we're doing in the building, which could have been a very good end to the season last season, with the cup finals and stuff." That was all we were concerned with: football, training, eating well, and staying in hotels; I was concerned with recovering from my injury. It's not really talked about. We have a job to do, and that is to play football and win games for the club. Every other job, about which we know nothing, is up to them to figure out. We can only do our best to help the team win games.
"We didn't feel the weight of [the Abramovich situation], but it may have lifted a weight off everyone involved with Chelsea's shoulders." Now that it's been resolved — obviously, we see the rumours the same way you do — it's a weight off the club's shoulders, and we can move on. We've got new ownership, which appears amazing; they want to get involved and invest heavily in the club, which is a good thing. The club is in a good place, which bodes well for the future."
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