Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez backs Chelsea to mount a serious title challenge
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez is backing his former club Chelsea to be part of a three-way battle for this season’s Premier League crown.
The Spaniard, who spent six months in interim charge at Stamford Bridge, delivering Europa League success and a third-placed finish, is confident the Blues will be title contenders once again under new head coach Maurizio Sarri.
Benitez’s Newcastle will welcome Chelsea to St James’ Park on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, and when asked if they can win the league this year, he said: „I think so.
„Maybe at the moment, there are three teams that you could say that they are a little bit ahead of the others, for me – Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – because of the level, the performances last year and the money they spent.
„Then Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal, they have to go back to things they were doing well. They have quality in the squad and they can compete, for sure.
„But if you have to pick three, I will pick these. They have enough quality to do well.“
Benitez is well aware of Sarri’s qualities, having seen the Italian follow him into the Napoli hot seat and guide the club to three successive top-three finishes.
He said: „We did what we had to do. He did well, played good football and they had a very good group of players.
„We were an offensive team in Italy playing well, and he received this group and he carried on working with them and was doing well.“
Newcastle brought down the curtain on last season with a fine 3-0 win over Chelsea on Tyneside to secure a 10th-placed finish on their return to the top flight.
Benitez knows how much effort that took and a disappointing summer transfer window has left him preparing for another survival battle.
He said: „We finished 10th, but could have finished 15th or 17th. It was just one game, that’s it.
„If we think in the city and at the club that we finished 10th and that’s it, we are… No, we finished 10th because everything was really, really good. We cannot lose our focus.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
