Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel compares Manchester City’s EPL dominance to Bayern Munich

With the English Premier League emerging from a slew of winter fixtures, the title race is looking a lot less competitive than it did a few weeks ago. Manchester City have opened up a staggering 11 point gap on 2nd placed Chelsea, with Liverpool, Arsenal, and the rest all bringing up the pack. Even if some teams have a few games on hand, it’s looking likely that City will storm their way to another title.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Blues upcoming clash against Liverpool, Tuchel compared the task of keeping up with City to his efforts in the Bundesliga, where his record-breaking Borussia Dortmund side still fell short to Bayern Munich in the end. Pep Guardiola was the man in charge of the Bavarians even then, and it looks like he’s managed to bring that brand of dominance with him to England.

“It [City] is a winning machine. It is not only about having an advantage, it is making it an advantage,” said Tuchel (via Manchester Evening News).

“They are good. Very good. They are relentless. We have to admit where we come from one year ago. When you look at [the table for] 2021, we are 20 points behind. You have to be careful that you are ambitious but not over-ambitious and do not to get frustrated by not catching Man City in the first half year.”

Photo credit should read TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images

Tuchel’s words sort-of echo the current state of the Bundesliga, where Borussia Dortmund suddenly found themselves out of the title race in just a couple of weeks.

“Two or three weeks ago, we had a super close title race. Now we have lost the edge a little bit, I think because of circumstances that we cannot influence and that gave them a certain advantage and a certain leap. They have five or six years now of consistency. That makes it hard. It doesn’t make it impossible.”

However, it doesn’t look like the former BVB boss is ready to throw in the towel, unlike his former employer. “As long as I’m here in my Borussia, Chelsea, I will do nothing else than make other teams underperform. We will even try to make Manchester City underperform. We will not stop.”

“And Jurgen [Klopp], I’m pretty sure he will do the same to get the best out of Liverpool. And we, here, out of Chelsea. We will not stop chasing, we will not stop believing or stop doing this. Maybe the difference to the situation right now in the Bundesliga is we have the belief.”

Maybe the folks over in Dortmund could do with some of that same belief. Bayern Munich only have a 9 point gap over the rest of the league, which is not impossible to close. Bayern themselves did it under Niko Kovac in 2019. Sure, it’s a tough ask, but with half the fixtures still remaining, anything could happen.