Thomas Tuchel insists Chelsea will never give up hope of chasing down "winning machine" Manchester City but accepts his side have to be realistic about their title aspirations.
City opened up an 11-point lead on second-placed Chelsea at the Premier League summit with a dramatic 2-1 comeback win against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Only twice in the competition's history has a team had a bigger advantage at the end of New Year's Day – Manchester United in 1993-94 and City in 2017-18 (both 12 points).
Chelsea will attempt to close the gap when they take on Liverpool, who are one point further back in third with a game in hand, in Sunday's contest at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues enter the match on the back of a 1-1 home draw with Brighton and Hove Albion and have taken just six points from the last 12 on offer.
That disappointing run has coincided with Chelsea being without some key players due to coronavirus and injuries, and Tuchel believes his side would be far closer to City if they had a deeper squad.
"At this particular moment, that's the key advantage," he said when asked why the gap on City is so vast.
"The second thing is they take these advantages – they're relentless, they know what it takes to produce these high point seasons over and over.
"There's quality all over, not only in the squad but the management, how it's run, it's a winning machine. It's not only about having an advantage but making it an advantage."
City accrued 110 points in the last calendar year, compared to 83 for Chelsea and 77 for Liverpool, and have won each of their last 11 Premier League matches.
Chelsea led the way at the top of the division at the start of December, but hopes of a title race that will go down to the wire appear to be fading by the week.
"They're very good. We have to admit where we come from, from one year ago, and when you look at 2021 we are 20 points behind," Tuchel added.
"We have to be careful that you are ambitious but not overambitious about catching Man City in half a year.
"This can happen, but we have to go through this because this is part of the process of closing the gap. Everyone here wants to make it happen fast.
"Two, three weeks ago we had a super close title race. We had three teams competing. Now we lost the edge a little bit because of circumstances we cannot influence.
"That has given City a certain advantage and belief and they are five years now of consistency with the squad they have.
"It makes it hard. But it does not make it impossible; we will never stop believing and stop pushing but we have to be realistic."
City are going in search of their fifth Premier League title and a fourth in the past five seasons.
But Tuchel does not fear the Premier League becoming a closed shop like the Bundesliga, where Bayern Munich have dominated for the past decade.
"As long as I am here I will do nothing else but to try and make other teams underperform," the former Borussia Dortmund coach said.
"We will not stop chasing, not stop believing. That is maybe the difference to the situation right now in the Bundesliga. We have to believe, but we have to face reality.
"It helps in life if you are dreaming and you are realistic at some point. If you look at 2021, City had something like 20 more points than us and Liverpool – we're next in that race.
"Everything has to fall in place for us so we can produce that consistent level that City and normally Liverpool produce. There's no need to get negative, no need to lose faith.
"The opposite. We will stay hungry. Jurgen [Klopp] did it with Dortmund, we came close [at Dortmund] but were stopped in the middle of the process.
"Both of us know how to catch favourites, we will not stop dreaming."
Sunday's encounter will be the 17th between Tuchel and Klopp-managed sides, with the latter boasting nine wins to his compatriot's three across those previous meetings.
However, Klopp will not be present at Stamford Bridge after returning a suspected positive coronavirus test on Saturday.
Tuchel in unbeaten in three against Klopp, but he does not believe he stands a chance against the Liverpool boss when it comes down to a personality contest.
"This is maybe the most unfair question that you could ask me," he said. "Jurgen could arrive without any team and the stadium would be full! I cannot do this, I will never try. He can do it."
Guardiola has 'no words' for hat-trick hero Haaland
Pep Guardiola was lost for words to describe Erling Haaland after his eighth Premier League hat-trick fired Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over West Ham.
Having scored a treble to help City claim a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town on matchday two, Haaland did likewise on Saturday to keep them perfect as they edged out the Hammers at the London Stadium.
Haaland's seven goals this season are the most any player has ever netted in the first three matches of a Premier League campaign, while only Sergio Aguero (12), Alan Shearer (11) and Robbie Fowler (nine) have ever helped themselves to more match balls in the competition.
Across English football's top four tiers, he is also the first player to score two hat-tricks in a team's first three games of a league season since Bradford City's Paul Jewell in 1994-95.
The Norwegian has now scored more than once in 26% of his Premier League matches (18/69, eight hat-tricks, 10 braces), leaving Guardiola in disbelief.
"There are no words for him," Guardiola told BBC Sport.
"All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible into the box. It's what we have to do. We are there and we added quality.
"This is a team. When you have to run backward, no one asks who has to do it. Everyone has to. When we see Erling doing that, it is fantastic."
Haaland himself, meanwhile, believes having an extended pre-season due to Norway missing out on Euro 2024 has helped him start the season in peak condition.
"I feel good. I feel energised. I had a long vacation and a long pre-season. I'm feeling good," Haaland told City's website.
"The years here have gone quick and it's been going like, 'bam bam bam', now I have a little bit of rest in my body and my feet. I feel really good now and I'm ready for more.
"I feel more refreshed and more energised. So when you do that you can practice on things you want to become better at in training. I feel good. I want to become better. I'm happy."
City sit top of the early-season table with nine points from nine available and saw last season's runners-up Arsenal slip up on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with Brighton and Hove Albion.
Haaland, though, feels it is too early to think about the title race, adding: "They [City's rivals] haven't slipped up yet. Three games, nine points. This is a great start.
"But let's not think too far ahead, because there’s potentially 70 games left this season. Let's breathe a bit and take it game by game."
Lopetegui rues missed opportunity as West Ham lose to Man City
West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui was not encouraged by the performance of his team despite losing 3-1 at home to Manchester City in their third league game.
“It is true that City is one of the best teams around the world for sure… but it is also true too that in the second half we have been very close to a draw,” he said speaking to BBC Match of the Day.
“I think we have played one very good second half. The start has been very good for us too.”
West Ham threatened for extended periods of the match and had chances to level the match at 2-1 down, with the best coming from Mohammed Kudus as he smashed a shot against the bar in the second half.
They also started the game brightly before going a goal down inside 10 minutes.
“In my mind we started very well, being aggressive,” said Lopetegui.
“We know in this plan normally they have initiative, it’s very difficult to not concede initiative then. That’s why you have to do a lot of very good things to overcome them.
“In the second half we had chances, I think we kept the ball much more, much more, and didn't concede a lot of chances."
But the hosts were ultimately undone by the brilliant finishing of Erling Haaland, who scored his second hat-trick in as many matches.
“He is one of the best players in the world, that's why he plays for Manchester City,” he said.
“You have to compete with these kind of players. City has the power and the quality to create chances.”
But ultimately, he was left frustrated at the sense of a missed opportunity and that his team were unable to earn themselves a draw that hadn’t seemed implausible during the match.
“Today I think the first goal was a pity for us but I’ve said it. I was happy with the performance think we were able to draw but again they damage us,” he said.
“Against this kind of team, if you make a mistake they don’t forgive. This is the difference they have… A little mistake they punish you, they punish us.
“We have to improve, to know to compete against this kind of team to be close to perfection.
“Don't make mistakes, be calm, defend well… we have quality players too.”
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
