Chelsea manager believes battle is on
Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that despite his team’s good start, he has been impressed by the standard of the clubs at the top of the Premier League.
The Blues currently sit at third in the Premier League after taking 16 points from a possible 21, with their only defeat coming at the hands of title rivals Manchester United.
The young manager has revealed that he is not surprised at Chelsea’s start, but says that he would have been disappointed with anything less as he knows that any slip ups could knock them out of the title race.
“I think things have been going okay. We had a good start up to the Old Trafford game where we had a good performance but were unlucky with the result,” Villas-Boas told the club’s official website.
“Bearing in mind the performance, normally with so many opportunities you come away with a win but it didn’t go for us in the first half in terms of efficiency and the scoreline was difficult to recover at half-time.
“We are doing nothing else than what we need to do. We are expected to win every game and that’s the challenge that we have. Some results have gone our way a little bit better and others haven’t.”
During Jose Mourinho’s reign at Stamford Bridge, Boas was an assistant his fellow countryman, however he has now stepped in to Mourinho’s shoes since his arrival at Chelsea during the summer.
Boas believes that the main difference between when he was at Chelsea before, they were an established “Big four” club, who was fully expected to challenge for the title, however he is of the belief that the standard of teams at the top has improved massively.
“The main difference from a couple of years ago is that there are much more teams competing for the Premier League title, and more teams are also competing for the Champions League spots,” he said.
“I think money has a part to play, a lot of new players have come across for various teams. Tottenham look different from before, Liverpool the same, Stoke City will be a threat for the European places and Newcastle are back on top form.”
