Ancelotti warns Chelsea to focus on top four finish

AFP/London

Carlos Ancelotti...under pressure

Carlo Ancelotti has warned his Chelsea stars to focus on qualifying for the Champions League after the Blues slipped out of the Premier League’s top four.
Ancelotti’s side are in danger of losing touch with the title race after falling six points behind leaders Manchester United, who have played a game less than the champions.
But retaining the title is the least of Ancelotti’s worries as he prepares for his team’s trip to struggling Wolves today.
Sunday’s 3-3 draw against Aston Villa has left Chelsea in fifth place, one point behind fourth placed Tottenham and four points behind third placed Arsenal.
The prospect of losing the title was bad enough, but surrendering their spot in Europe’s elite club competition as well is unthinkable.
That would almost certaintly lead to Ancelotti’s sacking and the Italian admits the scrap to qualify for the Champions League is just as important as the title fight.
"We have to pay attention because there are a lot of teams involved for the top positions,” Ancelotti said. "To stay in the top places is very important for the future obviously.
"We have to think we can win the title again but obviously the most important thing is to stay in the top four and play in the Champions League next year.
"I’m not worried. We have the skills and ability to stay in the top four without a problem.”
Villa defender Ciaran Clark’s stoppage-time equaliser at Stamford Bridge on Sunday left Chelsea with just one win from their last eight league games - the team’s worst run for over a decade.
Yet Ancelotti remains confident Chelsea are close to getting back on track and he still expects their title rivals to drop more points as the season progresses. "The gap now is not easy to close the gap but we can still do it. I said many times this Premier League is strange because there is a lot of balance and every game is very difficult,” Ancelotti said.
"Man Utd had a lot of difficulties to beat West Brom on Saturday. They were a little bit lucky. For this reason we have enough time to come back and fight for the title.
"We missed a penalty in the last minute against Spurs and conceded late goals against Everton and Villa. We lost six points in the last minutes. With these points we would be top.
"It is true we are not playing so well but sometimes we are not so lucky. We have to keep going, stay in focus and I’m sure we are moving on from the difficult moment.
"We are not able to play for 90 minutes ... but I’m sure everything will get better quickly.
"We are improving and the team is very close to moving on from this moment. We won’t lose at Wolves, we will win.”
With the January transfer window now open, Ancelotti is keen to strengthen his squad after the spell of injuries that proved so costly.
He was without Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Alex, Yossi Benayoun and Yuri Zhirkov at various stages in the first half of the season and performances suffered as result.
A new centre-back is top of Ancelotti’s shopping list, although he refused to confirm interest in Bolton’s Gary Cahill. "There are not new players until now, we are speaking about this, but I don’t need to speak here about what we are going to do,” Ancelotti said.