Chelsea

Thibaut Courtois: 'Lack of European football no advantage'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 09 February 2017

Courtois dismisses 'title advantage' talk

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois claims that his side do not have an unfair advantage in the title race due to a lack of European football this season.

Thibaut Courtois has insisted that Chelsea do not have an unfair advantage in the Premier League title race due to their lack of European commitments.

The Blues failed to qualify for the Champions League or Europa League this season, seeing them handed a less taxing schedule than the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

Courtois, who has played a big part in helping Chelsea climb nine points clear at the top of the table, is adamant that a lack of European football is not the main reason behind his side's impressive turnaround in fortunes this season.

"In some ways it's good, in other ways maybe not," he told The Mirror. "Everybody wants to play in Europe and if you're in the rhythm of playing a game every three or four days, sometimes you can play better, even though it's harder at the end of the season.

"The other year when we were champions, we had European football, so I don't think it makes a big difference. The players don't want to relax.

"We know we still have 14 games to go so we just want to show that we are strong and we don't want to lose points. Next we go to Burnley, which is always difficult. It's all about the next game and we have to be ready for that."

Chelsea, 3-1 winners over title hopefuls Arsenal in their last outing, have dropped points in just two of their last 18 league matches