Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel has admitted their whole season will be judged on the next two matches.
The Blues host Leicester City on Tuesday, days after losing to them in the FA Cup final. The game will be crucial to their hopes of finishing in the top four.
Chelsea are away to Aston Villa on the last day of the Premier League season.
Tuchel has said finishing fifth and missing out on a Champions League title, will not be enough to satisfy his ambitions.
He said: “I am not afraid to talk about my ambition. These are the two decisive weeks of the whole season. That is very clear. But sometimes you have to accept that you don’t have full control over the result. I know very much what could be the best case.
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“Then I will have the feeling that we pushed certain things together to the limit and reached our limit in a very short period of time. If not, then we obviously found some boundaries which are hard to accept but we would have to accept them and bounce back and try to do it better.”
Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen could return when Chelsea host Leicester in Tuesday’s Premier League match at Stamford Bridge.
Kovacic has been out of action with a hamstring problem and just failed in his bid to be fit for Saturday’s FA Cup final, where Leicester defeated Chelsea 1-0.
Christensen has been dealing with a leg tendon issue but could strengthen the Blues’ options in defence.
Leicester will be without defender Jonny Evans.
The Northern Ireland international limped off during the first half of Saturday’s final with an ongoing heel problem.
Cengiz Under (hip) is a major doubt while James Justin and Harvey Barnes (both knee) remain sidelined.
Factoring in emotion and the afterparty factor is hard to quantify when trying to make sound betting decisions – unfortunately Opta don’t produce ‘expected hangover’ data.
But surely we can assume that Leicester will be physically and mentally more drained than their opponents for what is shaping up to be one of the most important matches of the season. It’s no surprise to see that Chelsea have been well backed at 4/6 with Sky Bet despite losing both meetings with the Foxes without scoring this season.
I think Chelsea will sneak this one but they won’t be carrying my money, mostly due to Timo Werner continuing to convince he’s not a striker to rely on in the big moments in front of goal. His team-mates have created chances amassing to an expected goal figure of 10.65 this season yet he has only bagged six Premier League goals in 33 appearances, missing 18 big chances along the way. That works out at 0.67 big chances spurned every 90 minutes. That simply isn’t good enough for a title-chasing side.
He is taking up a big chunk of the first goalscorer market which does open up the possibility of squeezing some value out of his team-mates. I’ve come down on the chances of Mason Mount bagging the first goal at 7/1 with Sky Bet. Since Thomas Tuchel took charge, Mount is averaging almost three shots a match and has found the net six times.
At the weekend he amassed an expected goals number of 0.36 from his three shots and almost bagged the equaliser when denied by Kasper Schmeichel late on. He’s Chelsea’s most important attacking player under Tuchel and 7/1 is overpriced.
Chelsea are winless in their last six Premier League meetings with Leicester (D4 L2), having won nine of their previous 11 against them in the competition (D1 L1).
Leicester are looking to complete their first league double over Chelsea since the 2000-01 campaign.
Leicester have won just two of their last 29 away league games against Chelsea (D11 L16), winning 1-0 in December 2018 and 2-0 in September 2000.
Between them, Manchester United (13), Chelsea (5) and Manchester City (5) have won 79% of the Premier League titles (23/29). Leicester have already won at both Manchester clubs this season and could be just the second team to win away at all three in a single Premier League campaign after Liverpool in 2008-09.
Chelsea have won just two of their seven midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games this season (D2 L3), failing to score in four of those games.
Chelsea haven’t lost their final home league game in any of the last 18 seasons (W12 D6), since losing 3-1 against Aston Villa in the 2001-02 campaign.
Leicester haven’t won their final away league game in any of the last six seasons (D2 L4), losing each of the last four in a row.
Chelsea have conceded the first goal in their last two Premier League games, coming back to beat Man City before losing to Arsenal. The Blues had only conceded first in one of their first 15 league games under Thomas Tuchel (a 1-1 draw with Southampton).
Victory for Leicester would ensure a top four finish for the Foxes for just the second time in the Premier League, after their 2015-16 title win. Brendan Rodgers would be just the second British manager to finish in the top four of the Premier League with two different clubs (also Liverpool), after Kenny Dalglish (Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United).
Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho has scored a Premier League goal on six different days of the week, with Tuesday the only day on which he’s failed so far. If he scores in this game, he’ll be the first player in Premier League history to score on all seven days of the week within a single season.
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