Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel believes Tottenham will be title contenders under Antonio Conte next season.
Tuchel also expects Manchester United to be in contention under their new manager Erik ten Hag despite their shortcomings this term.
Tuchel was speaking at his post-match press conference after Chelsea ended their campaign with a 2-1 win over Watford.
He was asked whether Chelsea could rival champions Manchester City and runners-up Liverpool in the title race next season.
The German replied: “It will be a super-tough race. Manchester United will be in the race, Tottenham will be in the race with Antonio Conte for sure.
“We want to stay in the race and Liverpool and Man City do everything to even make their squads bigger and they set the standard so, so high. So this is the challenge in which we compete.”
Tuchel hopes the takeover by Todd Boehly goes through “as quick as possible” so that Chelsea can sign new players and have the best possible chance of competing with the likes of City and Liverpool.
“This is the plan,” he said. “Hopefully we can do this and have everybody ready for the pre-season.
“It’s a pre-season where you have three or four weeks together and we need to be quick and fast to adapt to the qualities and personalities of these new guys.
“But first of all we need to be able to sign, be smart (about) who we sign and be on-point.”
