Thomas Tuchel has predicted Chelsea will still find it 'difficult' to compete with Man City and Liverpool next season regardless of how many players he adds to the team this summer
London Blues , Chelsea are set to finish third in a heated Premier League campaign this season.
They managed to keep pace with Liverpool and Man City early on in the contest. However, they lost their ground dramatically in the second half of the season.
Thomas Tuchel feels his side will struggle to compete with the two title contenders next season.
Heading into the final day of the Premier League campaign, ahead of their meeting with Watford the Chelsea boss said: "The numbers we produce from our offensive players don’t allow us to overperform and we need over-performance if we want to be anywhere nearer to the top two teams. I am not pointing fingers, I am not blaming anybody."
"If we stick to the group then we will try to solve it with these players. Is it necessary to bring more offensive players around the box to create more distractions, to create more space? Can we push players more? Did we rotate too much? There are a lot of options.
Sanctions currently mean Chelsea are unable to sell or sign players, or hand out new contracts.
"Maybe we suffer already from the delay. But we will try to have our impact. We have a strong opinion on what’s missing and what we need. We will try to find it and give our opinion and fight for it."
Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea may struggle to narrow the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City even if they secure a couple of 'key' signings once Government sanctions are lifted.
"It is going to be very difficult because even if we keep the team and have maybe the chance to add one or two key players it would already be difficult. Maybe even very difficult. Still we are not sure if we play the same season again.
"It was an incredible season from (City and Liverpool) and in the end I don’t lie to myself."