The Chelsea manager has been adamant throughout the season that his team are not ready to challenge for the title. The west London side are 11 points short of league leaders Liverpool and five behind Spurs, despite their early form.
With City suffering shock defeats against Crystal Palace and Leicester, Mauricio Pochettino’s side have overtaken the defending champions and moved to second.
Despite this, Sarri still only sees two sides winning the title.
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“You know very well my opinion. As I said from the beginning of the season there are two teams a step above, Liverpool and Manchester,” he said.
“Now there is a little gap, I think City will be able to recover the gap, the title is fighting between City and Liverpool."
Following Chelsea’s defeat against Wolves, their second of the season, Sarri said it would be too hard to catch City given their relentless form. “Manchester City is in another category. We have to play and fight to be in the top four. It is very difficult the result for staying in the top four,” he said in early December.
“For me City is the best team in Europe and maybe the best team in the world.”
Maintaining pace to stay in the top four and achieve Champions League football is Sarri’s primary objective in the league, and given the re-emergence of Manchester United as a challenging side and Arsenal’s consistent form, this could be the summit of his side in the league this season.
"We have to try to stay close to the top four. The target this season could only be to stay close and to enter into the Champions League,” he told BBC Sport. “Liverpool are playing really well especially with the continuity to win the Premier League."
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