Andre Villas Boas has stated that he feels Chelsea can still win the Premier League, and wants his side to return to winning ways against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night.
The Stamford Bridge outfit have had an autumn blip, with a 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool on Sunday making it three league defeats on the bounce for the London side.
The Blues face a tricky trip to the BayArena in midweek in the Champions League, but despite a drop in form the Portuguese coach is keeping upbeat.
“We have to believe in the work we are doing to get back to winning ways,” he told The Guardian.
“The players have immense talent and I have faith in them, and you can’t forget we are still in all four competitions. But now we have to focus just on what we are doing.
“The Premier League has got more difficult but it’s not impossible [still to win it]. We have to trust the December fixtures and, above all, we have to find the belief again to fight for the title.
“But the most important thing is finding winning ways straightaway, if possible, against Leverkusen which is a massive game.
“Then we have three games in the Premier League where we must try to get nine points. The challenge is to have the belief and strength to fight for those nine points. But if we get nine points, it would put us in a different perspective,” he concluded.
Chelsea are now 12 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City and sit in fifth place currently.
By Gareth McKnight
Football News 24/7
We’ve been shaky under AVB but must stick him out; evolution was always going to be wobbly but a few words of worry: if he insists on the high defensive line; a consistent back four would help, Ivan was always a better defensive right back than Boss but only now gets in and so misses the off side line; we have seen Luiz is naturally wobbly but so gifted, why not tried in midfield and Alex, much more dependable, played as first choice to partner JT, at least until we get Cahill or other. Why Mikel when we have Oriel, in fact sorry Mikel, why play him at all, I rate him but not for AVB’s chosen tactics. Finally, fair enough AVB wants to stick by his chosen tactical principals but, and I said it under Carlo too, why can’t we mix it, which is the way it generally works in the Prem; occasional 442, deeper defensive line, percentage play etc when required and the ability to change during play; hey this guy knows better than me I’d hope and I think we should stick with him but even he must admit; at his age and experience he must still be learning something of the game, I can’t believe he said he was surprised by the variance in the tactics between teams the Prem, I thought homework and analysis was his thing and it don’t take a genius to work that one out.
Reply