Filed under: Chelsea, Premier League, Football
When Chelsea clinched last season's Premier League title with a barrage of goals who would have thought they would be so downcast following a 3-1 victory away from home in early March?Carlo Ancelotti is still insisting retaining that trophy is beyond his players even though the three points picked up at Blackpool brought them to within nine of leaders Manchester United and they also have a game in hand, against relegation-threatened Birmingham.
"Our aim at this moment is to stay in the top four," the Italian insisted. "We are closer to Manchester United but we have to prepare for the next game and prepare game by game. It is too far to think we can come back in to fight for the title."
Even Frank Lampard, whose two goals ensured victory at Bloomfield Road, admitted anything other than securing a top-four finish was a realistic target. "Of course, you have to believe," he said.
"It's a long shot, we have given ourselves a lot to do and Manchester United and Arsenal are very good teams and they've got a bit of a gap but with the quality we've got, we can only look at our own games.
"If we go and win every game then we've got a great chance to do it but it's going to be very difficult. It's just nice to be looking upwards rather than looking to fight into the top four. We still have to battle to make sure we do that but we have a bit of a different eye now, looking above us rather than sideways."
With John Terry getting the other goal it was a case of Chelsea's most reliable performers helping them through a tough patch; the old guard if you like.
Fernando Torres played another 90 minutes but the £50 million man's Chelsea record still reads zero goals. Ancelotti left Nicolas Anelka on the bench to pair the Spaniard with Didier Drogba, who was forced off injured before the hour.
His replacement, Salomon Kalou, then won a penalty, which Lampard converted, and then set up the England midfielder for the clinching third.
With all the fuss about Torres' arrival, Drogba's nose being put out of joint and how the pair can fit in with Anelka, Kalou's name has hardly been mentioned for a while yet his impressive cameo was evidence that he hardly deserves to be over-looked.
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Lampard was certainly grateful. "He came on and there was constant movement causing problems, coming a bit deeper, going in behind them, everything," he said of his colleague.
"Credit to Sala because when you're not playing all the time you get frustrated and he deserves to play for what he gives every time he comes on or starts is massive for the team."
The Ivory Coast international himself admitted he had felt frustrated in recent weeks. "It is difficult because you don't play for a long and when you get in a game people expect you to make the difference always but sometimes it is difficult," he said.
"I'm working hard at training and there are players to help me at training so I give always my best and hopefully my time will come and I'll be in the first eleven."
It should not be forgotten that Kalou contributed 13 goals to last season's success and this term's total is already in double figures.
So if Torres continues to fire blanks how long can he continue to be picked in favour of one of the more self-effacing members of the Chelsea squad, who has already proved himself to be invaluable?
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