Former Chelsea man Craig Burley reacts to comments from Guus Hiddink alleging that Chelsea are in a relegation battle.
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Chelsea remain in 14th place in the Premier League table after picking up just 23 points from their 20 games so far this season, but they are unbeaten in all competitions since Hiddink took temporary charge of the team.
They were utterly clueless under Jose Mourinho, and while Guus Hiddink has steadied the ship a little, Chelsea haven’t returned to their top form just yet.
“It’s a very realistic view when you see there is a 12 point gap to Tottenham in fourth”.
Chelsea’s displays have improved since Hiddink arrived as interim boss and they have edged away from the drop-zone. We have two hard games coming up.
“When we started we were one point off the relegation line, but now we have a little bit more room to breathe”. “If you don’t gather those points, the Premier League can surprise you”.
All factors combined, Chelsea’s only hope remains Diego Costa. They will want to try to score against me so it’s important we keep a clean sheet.
For that reason Everton go into the weekend game with Chelsea with arguably their best chance of getting a result in 20 years. “I’m impressed with his development and it’s nice to see a player develop themselves in a recent period”.
He said: “Sometimes as a coach you don’t have to say anything, players are smart enough to do what they think”. The Blues had severe issues initially but seem to be recovering from them quite instantly since Hiddink’s arrival at Stamford.
“There’s always delicate provocations from left and the right”.
“But they are playing on the edge; he is playing on the edge”. Nevertheless, he should control himself.
Costa got the football world talking on several occasions in Chelsea’s 2 – 2 draw at home to West Bromwich on Wednesday January 13.
“If you have this academy, the investment in the academy and the facilities and the training programme one day it must produce”, Hiddink said.
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If they are to recover and beat Roberto Martinez’s Everton, Chelsea must demonstrate more steel to match the enterprise they occasionally showed going forward against West Brom, even with Eden Hazard still sidelined with a groin injury.
