Chelsea Not Title Contenders Yet- Sarri

Maurizio Sarri admits he does not see Chelsea as potential title contenders yet, and admits they are in trouble when they do not press all over the pitch.

Chelsea came out on top in a five-goal thriller against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, following their opening-day win over Huddersfield.

But Arsenal were allowed several clear chances towards the end of the first half, and Sarri was not completely happy by his side's performance.

Asked if he sees Chelsea as potential title challengers, Sarri said candidly: "Not in this moment. We did very well in the last 25 minutes today, but I think that we have to work, we have to improve in the defensive parts, and I am not talking about only the defenders.

"The defensive phase of all the team, all players. Because if we press very high, we are able to do well. But in the moment where we are not going to press in the other half, we are in trouble. So I think we have to work and need to improve.

"I think we have done very well for 75 minutes. 15 minutes from maybe the 30th-minute was horrible. We lost the distances I think, we were not able to cover the last third, or press as a team, only one player to player.

"I think that the players were very good in the second half. It was not easy in the final part of the first half.

"We want to defend by looking only at the ball. We have to stay very compact and need to press on the other half. In that 15 minutes, we were not able to do this, so we were in trouble.