Europa League is ‘reality’ for Chelsea, says Hiddink

Guus Hiddink insists a European place is still not beyond Chelsea and believes they should embrace a possible Europa League campaign.

The Blues kept the gap between themselves and fifth-placed West Ham to nine points after Cesc Fabregas’ late penalty rescued a 2-2 draw.

They are 10 points adrift of the top four, which will increase to 13 if Manchester City beat Manchester United on Sunday.

However, if United were to overtake their rivals and then win the FA Cup, Chelsea could get into Europe by finishing sixth – which currently is just six points away.

Former Blues boss Jose Mourinho was always dismissive of the Europa League, saying it was not Chelsea’s level, but Hiddink said “It might be under the standard of Chelsea, but it’s reality.

“It might have some benefit also for the younger players, in that sequence of many games.

“I’m not in favour of saying let’s not play in Europe – I think then you undervalue the meaning of tournaments.

“We would like to have more victories, then we would be knocking on the door, as West Ham is doing now, for Champions League positions.

“Our target now is to see if we can get a European spot.”

Hiddink, in charge until the end of the season, also felt the draw with West Ham was a fair result.

He said: “We started okay, then we got into a sloppy period where we lost the ball rather easily.

“It was a beautiful free-kick from Fabregas [for the first goal] which gave the team a bit of comfort for the second half.

“In the second half we controlled the game, then we were caught on the counter. The team had to react but they did.”