Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti believes that his team have very little chance of winning the Premier League title this season and says that the west London club will concentrate on a minimum of fourth place, whilst competing for the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup.
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The Italian manager said:
“It’s difficult to think we can come back to fight for the title, it’s better to think game by game.
“We have to reach minimum fourth place. To close the gap is very difficult; we have to be honest about this. But the most important step is to be fourth in the table and fight with the other teams.”
Ancelotti explained how shocked his was over the team’s poor performance against Liverpool last weekend during the 1-0 loss at Stamford Bridge:
“I think it was a surprise the defeat against Liverpool because I saw in the days before the game that the team trained well with motivation and power.
“But now we have to look forward to Fulham and maintain high our confidence; you have to have confidence when you play above all the Champions League.”
“Our aims now are very clear, we have Champions League, we have FA Cup and we have to close the gap. It’s difficult to close the gap but we have to reach fourth to keep Chelsea in the Champions League.”
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However, Blues midfielder Frank Lampard still holds some hope of Chelsea defending their title, but argues that we would need 13 win in-a-row to do so.
The 32-year-old England international said:
“We know we can get back into the picture. It will take a huge effort because we need to win all our games and hope other clubs slip up.
“We can’t afford to think about United too much. Our aim is to get a run of wins together so that we can close the gap before we play them.
“It will only swing our way if we can get it down to around six points before we play them.”
(SkySports)
It would surely be a monumental task to get back into the title race now, especially as we’re adapting to a new system. But perhaps Ancelotti is just taking some of the weight of expectation off the players, who have been worryingly short of form and confidence at times this season.
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