Thomas Tuchel admits securing top-four finish WILL ease Champions League final pressure

Thomas Tuchel believes securing a top four finish this weekend will ease some of the pressure on his players in the Champions League final.

Chelsea head into the final round of fixtures in a three-way fight with Leicester and Liverpool to secure a place in Europe’s top competition next season via the league.

They also have a potential back-up route into the Champions League when they face Manchester City in this season’s showpiece.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is gearing up for a massive finale to the campaign

Chelsea enjoyed a huge 2-1 win over Leicester to stay on course for a top-four berth

But Tuchel has urged his players to finish what they have started in the league and get the job done by securing the right result against Aston Villa on Sunday.

He said: ‘For sure. Of course it takes some pressure off. But I don’t think when we arrive next week in the Champions League final that will be in any of our heads. When you prepare the final in the last two days, we will not play this final to make it to Champions League next season.

‘This final we will play 100 per cent no matter what, to win the cup. This is it and the side effect is of course a crucial one but I will not turn it around, we don’t want to play this final to arrive in the top four (Champions League).

‘We put so much hard work and quality and got a consistent amount of results into the last months that we want to finish the job on Sunday and we know it’s going to be tough but we don’t know what expects us in detail.

‘Anything can happen in the 90 minutes of football and this is what everybody loves about this game that three teams have a chance to catch two places so the race is on.’

Tuchel feels sealing a top-four spot will ease some pressure ahead of Champions League final

Chelsea lost the FA Cup final to Leicester but the Champions League final with Man City awaits