Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is still scared of finishing fifth next season despite running away with the title this time round, reports the Daily Star.
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This would seem to be an unfounded worry at the moment, with the Blues currently 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League. A win over Crystal Palace on Sunday and they will be crowned champions with three games to spare.
However, the Portuguese believes that Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Manchester City could all overtake the Stamford Bridge outfit next time round. The former three all suffered from slow starts to their current campaigns, while the latter has tailed off in the second half of the season.
Champions League qualification is even more of an imperative for these teams in the age of Financial Fair Play, with their accounts in need of boosting to be able to sign new players. With only four spots up for grabs it means that there is a chance even defending champions could end up failing to get in to the competition.
Mourinho said: “I keep saying the team is good enough but the other teams are good enough and I’m speaking about the other teams now. I’m not speaking about the other teams next season, I’m telling you now.
“The top-four teams this season are all good enough, they all have top quality players in their squads, big numbers of top players and very good managers with lots of experience so I think they are already big teams now and I can imagine they are going to try to be even better.”
He continued: “I think when I start the next pre-season, I would say I will fight for the title but there is a big risk of not even finishing in the top four. So lets go step-by-step and the first objective for next season will be to finish in the top four.”