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LONDON -- Maurizio Sarri admitted that Chelsea are closer to the level of Manchester City and Liverpool than he thought a week ago, but maintained that the joint-Premier League leaders remain "one step forward" from his side. Chelsea were on course to record their second victory over Liverpool in the space of three days at Stamford Bridge thanks to Eden Hazard's first-half strike, but a sensational long-range curler from Daniel Sturridge in the 89th minute preserved the unbeaten league record of Jurgen Klopp's men in a 1-1 draw. The result leaves City and Liverpool tied at the top of the table with 19 points from their first seven matches while Chelsea have taken 17. Sarri has repeatedly insisted that it would likely take a year for his team to become genuine contenders, but their performances at Anfield and Stamford Bridge have softened his stance. "I think they are a step forward, but I think also that we are more close than I thought one week ago," Sarri said. "[To finish] in the first two for me it's very difficult, because City and Liverpool are a step forward to us. But I can think we can fight for the [Champions League]. "Here it's very difficult to arrive in the first four. There are six or seven top teams, top in Europe, not only in England, so it's not easy to get into the Champions League. We have to try of course, and we have to try to stay very close in the table to the top level teams, and we have to improve more." Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri all missed big chances for Liverpool prior to Sturridge's moment of brilliance, while Chelsea's main attacking weapon was once again Hazard, who scored his seventh goal in eight club appearances in the first half and spurned a gilt-edged opportunity in the second. "I'm disappointed because they scored in the last minutes, but at the end I'm really very happy with the performance, and also [because] the draw maybe is the right result," Sarri said. "The match was wonderful." Olivier Giroud and substitute Alvaro Morata offered very little in the way of threat for Chelsea, and the two strikers have combined for just one Premier League goal this season -- but Sarri said that he is not prepared to consider benching both in favour of a false nine system just yet. "I want to use in this moment Giroud and Morata, because I think it's right to use them in the first part of the season," he said. "You know the characteristics: Giroud is very important for [teammates], and I think Morata in the last 25 minutes was more aggressive than usual. "I'm not really worried about it, because we have a winger [Hazard] that is able to score so frequently." Asked if it is dangerous to rely so heavily on Hazard for goals, he replied: "Maybe, but I think at the end of the season we can have four or five players over 10 goals, so it's not only Hazard. "Of course Hazard is the first, but I think Pedro, Willian, Morata will be able to score more than 10 goals in a season. Pedro is at three goals [already]."
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