Maurizio Sarri claims Chelsea and Tottenham are in a four-horse race for two places in the Champions League.

Sarri is unbeaten in his first 12 Premier League games but does not believe they are genuine contenders for the title.

He admits a 'mental problem' at the start of the second half of games is one of the things holding Chelsea back.

Maurizio Sarri thinks Liverpool and Manchester City will be fighting for the title this year

He says that Chelsea are in a group of four or five teams fighting for Champions League spots

'At the moment, in the Premier League there is a team above the others,' said Sarri. 'This team is Manchester City. Then there is a very good team, Liverpool, and for sure, they will be in the first four positions.

'Then there are four or five teams who will have to fight for the Champions League places: Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United and maybe somebody else. Usually in a season there is a surprise.

'We have to work very hard just to try to recover the gap but, at the moment, the gap is still there.'

Chelsea are four points adrift of leaders City but Spurs will climb above them if they win the London derby at Wembley on Saturday.

Chelsea are third in the table, but Spurs will leapfrog them if they win the London derby

'In the last three matches, we had problems with the approach to the match,' said Sarri. 'Not only that, because we had some problems also in the beginning of the second half.

'So we have to be careful. We have to be focused on this problem. For sure, it is not a physical problem because, in the last part of the match, we ran a lot.

'And it's not a tactical problem, because in the first 15 minutes in the last three matches, the problem was the opponents were more aggressive, more determined than us.

'It's a mental problem. We have to approach the match in a different way, for application and determination.'