Cucurella calls for more of the same against West Ham
Marc Cucurella believes the Blues can go on and secure a place in Europe next season if the level of performance shown against Tottenham Hotspur is repeated in the final four matches of our Premier League campaign.
Cucurella was part of the Chelsea side which produced an excellent performance to defeat Tottenham 2-0 on Thursday evening. However, that was just the first of two London derbies at Stamford Bridge in the top flight in four days.
The Spaniard believes our display against Spurs must be the benchmark for the remainder of the season, especially given we remain in the hunt for a European spot. There is currently a two-point gap between ourselves and Newcastle United, who occupy what is likely to be the final European qualification spot.
However, before looking ahead, Cucurella reflected on what he felt was so important about our showing against Spurs.
‘We deserved the win in this game,' said the 25-year-old. 'The team worked really hard. We’ve had some tough weeks but in the previous game, our actions in the second half were very good.
‘We must keep this energy, this confidence. On Thursday we showed it for 90 minutes. We controlled the game very well in the first half and the second half.
'We have conceded early goals before [against Arsenal and Aston Villa] so we needed to start with good energy, with focus, and give everything from the start. We showed a lot of personality, a lot of energy, so I was very happy and proud.’
However, Cucurella knows producing that in one match is not enough – and the defender has called on the Blues to provide repeat performances in our remaining four matches, starting against West Ham.
‘We need to keep this momentum, we need to start playing like this more regularly, not winning and then losing,' he continued. 'We need to show every week, in every game, we are at this level, and then we can do good things.
‘We showed the team that we are, but we need to show this in every game. The previous game in the second half was very good. On Thursday we kept that level and we need to continue.
'We have four more games, we need to show this in every minute of every game and then the quality of the players is there.
‘We have to continue in this way, with this personality and this energy. If we play for each other, fight for each other and stay at this level, I think we have a good chance to finish in Europe.
‘Our objective now is to win the four games. We need to have this last effort. It is in our hands. We have four games left and we need to win these four games and then we will see the table.
‘If we stay at this level until the end I don’t have any doubts that we will win these games and we will have a chance to play in Europe.’