Former Chelsea and Liverpool defender Glen Johnson believes that Mauricio Pochettino’s men will fall short of qualifying for the Champions League this season.
Chelsea sit in mid-table and are 12 points off the top four, meaning even a brilliant run of form in the second half would not necessarily give them a place in European football’s premier competition next season.
However, with sixth placed West Ham only six points ahead of them, and bigger teams still likely to pick up the League Cup and FA Cup, they are within touching distance of a Europa League or Europa Conference League spot.
Speaking to GGRecon, Johnson thinks that they should be aiming to make sure they are in the Europa League, even if it may prove a distraction next season.
He said: “The players need to have the ambition of qualifying for European competition this season, especially when you play for a huge club such as Chelsea. I believe finishing in the top four is out of the question for them this season, but they need to believe that they can qualify for next season’s Europa League at least.
“However, with the squad they’ve got, I don’t know if they will want to play in the Europa League next season because their main focus will be finishing in the top four and they may think that the additional fixtures that come with playing in the Europa League could have an impact on that. However, for the sake of personal pride, the players should be aiming to finish as high up the table as they possibly can this season.”