Thomas Tuchel reflects on Chelsea's chances of winning the Premier League

Chelsea started their 2021-22 Premier League campaign with a solid 3-0 win over Crystal Palace. Last season's UEFA Champions League triumph has put the Blues into the favorites column to win the Premier League this season.

The perfect start! 😁Up the Chels! 🔵 pic.twitter.com/T3k8tE6TIO

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 14, 2021

However, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel believes otherwise. He said in this regard:

"To be totally honest, I see us as the number four, that cannot be the favourite in the next year," he said. "They have to close the gap to three, two and one. We said during the campaign in the last half-year we set the bar high and look to close gaps during 90 minutes, and that's what we'll try to continue."

The German manager added:

"This is the Premier League, a tough competition. It's on us (Chelsea), we are in this role and in the role of the hunters, we have to close the gap to Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United."

Speaking about his team's clinical display in their opening day win, Tuchel said:

"We have to do that week in, week out, so this was a very good first step, but that's the reality and we are not shy to say this out loud that we try to be the best in any competition we play, but the reality is we come from fourth place and have three teams to close the gap to."

The German boss believes it is unwise to correlate their Champions League triumph with the Premier League favorites tag. Tuchel explained:

"We played in the Champions League and won it, but we played that as underdogs, it's a different competition, it's a tournament, we played it at a super-high level and reached constantly the highest level when necessary so had a feeling we deserved to win."

Tuchel wants Chelsea to be the hunters

Tuchel wants his team to be the hunters and chase down the teams ahead of them in the Premier League (as per last season's standings). The Chelsea boss said:

"This is one competition, and the reality is we were fourth last season and needed help from Tottenham on the last game to get that. It doesn't help if we translate the win of the Champions League into the status of becoming favourite in the Premier League. This is the toughest league in the world to win, and now it's on us to keep calm and work hard to reach the highest level on a permanent basis."

🗣 Thomas Tuchel on Chelsea's Premier League title hopes: "To be totally honest, I see us as the number four, that cannot be the favourite in the next year. They have to close the gap to three, two and one"

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 15, 2021