Sarri satisfied with Chelsea's 'minimum of consistency' but urges Blues to continue

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri feels that his side have created a "minimum of consistency" in the wake of their Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City after notching consecutive Premier League wins.

The Blues secured a 2-1 victory away against Fulham to make it two victories from two against London rivals in the wake of their penalty shoot-out loss at Wembley.

Before the final, Sarri had been thought to be under pressure, having failed to replicate the form shown in 2018 since the new year, but has since somewhat reasserted himself with a pair of key results.

And the manager is pleased his team look to be putting together a series of positive results, though he notes it is something that much continue. 

“Today we had a great opportunity,” the Italian said after the match at Craven Cottage. “A great opportunity because we were five points from the top four, but now we are only two points off.

“It's not easy. We have to fight until the last minute of the last match, I think. We are fighting. In the last four matches, we did well.

“It was really very important for us, the final, losing on penalties but, after the last match against City in Manchester when we lost 6-0, we played at the same level as them.

“That was very important for our confidence. Then we won against Tottenham and won today. I think that a minimum of consistency has arrived. But we have to continue.”

Sarri however did admit that the game was not a complete performance from his side, to which he pointed to the aggressive fixture pile-up over the past week.

“I think that we played very well for 60 minutes,” he added. “We could have killed the match with a third goal. We didn't kill the match and then, in the last 25 minutes, we were really very tired.

“In seven days, we played 120 minutes in a very difficult match against City. We played 90 minutes against Tottenham. Today we had to play a very important derby against a team with a new coach, so it was a really very difficult match.

“I think [we played] very well for 60 minutes, and [were] then very tired. That's the normal reaction to our seven days.”

Chelsea face another midweek clash on Thursday when they host Dynamo Kiev in first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.

Then the Blues will return to Premier League action the following Sunday against Wolves at Stamford Bridge.