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Daniel Sturridge: Manchester United game is a chance to prove Chelsea can still compete at the top
The England international wants the Blues to show they can still "mix it at the top" against United and admits they have been too inconsistent so far this season
3 Feb 2012 21:30:00
By Danny Hart
Getty Images
Daniel Sturridge believes Sunday's match against Manchester United provides the perfect opportunity for Chelsea to prove they can still compete with the top sides in the Premier League.
The Blues, who currently sit fourth in the table, are now 12 points off top spot after an inconsistent first half to the season under Andre Villas-Boas.
But Sturridge has warned that nobody should question the team and claims they have shown with their win over Manchester City earlier in the season that they can still "mix it at the top".
"We are a big club, and I don't think anybody should forget that," he told the club's official website.
"Just because we have had a bit of a bad spell and we haven't been winning as frequently as we have in the past, I think people are doubting the credibility of Chelsea which they should never do.
"We're a great club, and we are going to go out there on Sunday and prove to everybody that we can still compete with the likes of Manchester United.
"We've already shown by beating Manchester City that we can still mix it with the top two and we will be going out there on Sunday to show what we're about."
Sturridge admits that Chelsea have not reached expectations this season but has reminded supporters that they are still a team in transition.
"Of course, against teams that aren't in the top six we want to be winning every single one of those games, if you maybe win four and then draw one that's okay," he added.
"We haven't been as consistent as we would have liked but we're in a progressive stage where all the teams are improving.
"The mood in the camp is very good and everybody is looking forward to going out there and showing what they can do.
"We played some great football against Swansea, we had some good chances and it was just unfortunate we didn't get the win."
The striker, who has featured from the right side of a front three for much of the season, is also hopeful of adding to his tally of 10 goals for the club so far this campaign.
"I can't score in every game because it's difficult from that position," he said. "But hopefully I can carry on producing my fair share of goals and keep getting assists as well.
"It's good that I'm scoring goals, that's what I love doing, I love scoring goals that help the team win games and that's what I'll be striving to do, I want to score as many as I can in order to help us climb the table."
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The Blues, who currently sit fourth in the table, are now 12 points off top spot after an inconsistent first half to the season under Andre Villas-Boas.
But Sturridge has warned that nobody should question the team and claims they have shown with their win over Manchester City earlier in the season that they can still "mix it at the top".
"We are a big club, and I don't think anybody should forget that," he told the club's official website.
"Just because we have had a bit of a bad spell and we haven't been winning as frequently as we have in the past, I think people are doubting the credibility of Chelsea which they should never do.
"We're a great club, and we are going to go out there on Sunday and prove to everybody that we can still compete with the likes of Manchester United.
"We've already shown by beating Manchester City that we can still mix it with the top two and we will be going out there on Sunday to show what we're about."
Sturridge admits that Chelsea have not reached expectations this season but has reminded supporters that they are still a team in transition.
"Of course, against teams that aren't in the top six we want to be winning every single one of those games, if you maybe win four and then draw one that's okay," he added.
"We haven't been as consistent as we would have liked but we're in a progressive stage where all the teams are improving.
"The mood in the camp is very good and everybody is looking forward to going out there and showing what they can do.
"We played some great football against Swansea, we had some good chances and it was just unfortunate we didn't get the win."
The striker, who has featured from the right side of a front three for much of the season, is also hopeful of adding to his tally of 10 goals for the club so far this campaign.
"I can't score in every game because it's difficult from that position," he said. "But hopefully I can carry on producing my fair share of goals and keep getting assists as well.
"It's good that I'm scoring goals, that's what I love doing, I love scoring goals that help the team win games and that's what I'll be striving to do, I want to score as many as I can in order to help us climb the table."
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
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| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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