Former Premier League goalkeeper Shaka Hislop does not feel Chelsea favourites ahead of Napoli and Arsenal to lift the Europa League at the end of the season.
The Blues ensured their safe passage into the quarter-finals of the Europa League with an emphatic 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the second leg of their round of 16 clash at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday.
Maurizio Sarri’s men progressed to the next round with an 8-0 aggregate advantage over the Ukrainian outfit, as Olivier Giroud (three), Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Odoi found the back of the net on the night.
But despite the Blues securing their quarter-final berth in the most convincing manner out of all the other teams in the competition, Hislop feels they are not favourites to lift the trophy in Baku this term.
The former top flight goalkeeper stressed Chelsea are in his view behind Napoli and Arsenal in the race for the Europa League crown due to their inconsistency in the Premier League.
Hislop also claimed that Arsenal have been playing the better football in recent weeks and maintained Napoli are also above Chelsea as favourites due to their performances in Serie A.
“Not for me, no [Chelsea don’t deserve to be termed favourites to win the Europa League ahead of Napoli and Arsenal]”, Hislop said on the ESPN FC show after the Europa League games.
“I think Chelsea are fairly behind Napoli and Arsenal, just given what we’ve seen from Chelsea of late domestically, I think Arsenal have been more consistent and played the better football.
“They also have an incredible home record right now to bank on and similarly Napoli, second best team in Italy.
“I don’t have Chelsea, given their inconsistencies, albeit domestically, as better than Napoli either.”
All of Chelsea, Arsenal and Napoli will be joined by Valencia, Eintracht Frankfurt, Benfica, Villarreal and Slavia Prague in the quarter-final draw.
