Manchester City only have a ten-point lead in the Premier League because they have had better luck with Covid, according to Thomas Tuchel.
Chelsea boss Tuchel is preparing his side for a crucial visit to City on Saturday knowing defeat could see them fall 13 points behind the Blues and effectively out of the title race.
Tuchel's men have won three games in a row in the last fortnight in the Carabao Cup and League Cup, recovering from a poor run of form over December to slip so far behind City. They are a point ahead of Liverpool, but have played a game more.
Earlier this month, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp suggested that City's lead was only so big because they hadn't had many key players missing for Covid and injury reasons as the two chasing sides, only for an outbreak at the Etihad to rule seven first-teamers out of contention for the FA Cup trip to Swindon last week.
Now, Tuchel has echoed Klopp's views about City's Covid record when asked if they must win at the Etihad to remain in the title race.
“Maybe, who knows? So far the biggest difference in the season as far as I’m concerned is they dealt better with injuries and the Covid situation," he said.
"Maybe it is lucky, maybe they do it better, but they have fewer injuries to key players, fewer days out and weeks where they miss them. They did not suffer from Covid like we did. This is a huge difference.
"We had some draws this season that were unnecessary. If you have your full squad you create a certain atmosphere for everybody that pushes everybody to the edge and you need to be on your edge and at the very highest level if you want to compete with Man City.
“They are the benchmark, the best team in England right now. This is something we have to admit realistically. We don’t think a lot in scenarios, 'what happens if'. Let’s play the game. I am always ready for a good fight but also very realistic.
"If you look back to the last games, when we have the full squad feel good and are in a good shape, we are always up for a good fight with Man City. We are always there to push them to the limit and ask some questions maybe they don’t like maybe to answer.
"But the situation is that they are very strong, very consistent, and perform on the absolute highest level so this is it. So this is it."
Tuchel was a thorn in City's side last season, winning all three meetings against Guardiola's men in the Premier League, FA Cup semi-final and Champions League final, but City hit back at Stamford Bridge in September with a huge 1-0 win.
Asked whether Chelsea have closed the gap to City, Tuchel again pointed to squad strength.
He explained: “They opened the gap not over the last months but over the last years. I was never shy to say this, it is my opinion. We try to close it. We were self-confident enough to say we will try to close it from the first day this season. This is what we did. We did very good.
"Don’t get me wrong, I want to be clear about it. I am absolutely happy with the players who travel with us and will be on the pitch. We will inject the most confidence, come up with a plan and push, help, support with genuine belief.
“But the team is a different team with everyone available. It’s as simple as that. If you have your 19, 20 players from 23, always and constantly available, this creates energy, atmosphere and extra edge you need if you want to be on level where Man City is.
"We don’t have it, it’s no excuse. It’s a description and explanation of the situation for us in the last weeks. It makes it even tougher. Does it make it impossible? No. It’s 90 minutes. In 90 minutes you can do anything. You need to be brave, to play with courage, need a bit of luck and momentum, and we need to be at the top level. No problem for tomorrow but in general it’s like this.”
Tuchel then admitted his tactics were 'too passive' in the reverse fixture, praising City's aggression as Gabriel Jesus scored the only goal, before returning to the ten-point gap going into Saturday's fixture.
“At the moment it is a significant one," he said.
"If you look at the points in the table, the consistency, it is a significant one and we have to prove. We have to prove to ourselves that we can step up and close it day in day out. We have trust in what we do, in our players and trust in the mentality of our club that we can do it.
"We have a strong squad, belief in what we do. We will be there but the situation is very particular in which we are trying to do it. As you know, I talked many times about the reasons. Without using this as an excuse it describes the situation. It is an explanation. We can't look away from it.”
"We need to overperform to catch City, to be on top of the Premier League. To overperform you need simply everybody, that's why we are hoping to get players back."
