Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is not getting carried away by talk of a late Premier League title challenge despite a 3-1 win over Birmingham.<\/p>\n
Chelsea took a small step towards the most improbable of late surges with a 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge to leapfrog Arsenal into second place and close to within six points of United.<\/p>\n
The leaders are still firm favourites to finish top, but have to play both of their closest challengers in the next three games.<\/p>\n
Ancelotti said: “To win the title we’ll need less points than last season.<\/p>\n
“We won it with 86 last season. Now, with 80 points, United can win the title. They need 10 points.”<\/p>\n
He added: “In football, I learned that everything can happen in the game right up to the final whistle.<\/p>\n
“You can win the title in the last minute and you can lose the title in the last minute.<\/p>\n
“If we thought that one month ago we’d have a little chance to come back to fight for the title, I think that everyone could have said we were crazy.<\/p>\n
“Now we are happy tonight because we’ve reached second place. We await to see what happens in the next five games.”<\/p>\n
However, Ancelotti refused to look too far ahead, saying: “Our aim is to try and win every game. After that, we can see our results and our position in the table.<\/p>\n
“Six points at this stage with five games to go will not be easy, but we don’t have to think we can or can’t do this.”<\/p>\n
Winning the title would surely make owner Roman Abramovich think twice about sacking the Italian, who was widely considered to be a dead man walking at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League.<\/p>\n
Asked if he felt his job would be secure if he masterminded such a comeback, Ancelotti said: “Questions with ‘if’ are not good.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the season, we will have a big press conference, a strong and tough press conference.”<\/p>\n
Ancelotti left Fernando Torres out of the side and was rewarded as Florent Malouda scored twice and Salomon Kalou once, while Didier Drogba also ran Birmingham ragged.<\/p>\n
Hailing his front three, Ancelotti said: “Drogba, Kalou, individually, there were a lot of good performances. A lot of midfielders played really well.”<\/p>\n
Admitting Drogba was back to his best after malaria laid him low towards the end of last year, Ancelotti added: “He has a strong personality. He knew that, with malaria, he didn’t play his best.<\/p>\n
“I think that now he’s fit and he’s showing fantastic quality. In one season, problems like Didier had can happen. We couldn’t do anything about this.<\/p>\n
“Now we have to be happy to see him playing fantastic football, but forget the past.”<\/p>\n
Birmingham had taken seven points from their last three games to move clear of the relegation zone, but never really looked in the contest after falling behind inside three minutes.<\/p>\n
Alex McLeish said: “Shocking start. We did the same thing here last season and gave ourselves a mountain to climb. But we hung in there and never gave up.”<\/p>\n
The visitors earned a late consolation when David Luiz foolishly tripped Matt Derbyshire and Sebastian Larsson converted the resulting penalty after snatching the ball from team-mate Craig Gardner.<\/p>\n
McLeish said: “It’s not normally something I’d encourage.<\/p>\n
“When a player has been successful in scoring the penalties, as Craig has done, he should keep it.<\/p>\n
“I’m sure they’ll have a wee chat about it over the next few days.”<\/p>\n
McLeish refused to rule Chelsea out of the title race, but was more concerned with his own side’s five-point cushion over the drop zone.<\/p>\n
He said: “I would say we need another win. We’ll try and get as many points in the last five games as we can.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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