City are genuine title rivals, insists Ancelotti

CHELSEA boss Carlo Ancelotti insists Manchester City are still in the Premier League title race this season under fellow Italian Roberto Mancini.

Ancelotti’s side head into 2010 top of the table but suffered an inconsistent December, while City recorded back-to-back wins after appointing Mancini to take over from Mark Hughes.

Alex Ferguson has predicted a two-horse race for the championship between his Manchester United side and Chelsea, but Ancelotti said: “A lot of teams will be involved in the fight for the title.

“I think the last results, the result of Manchester City above all, show they have an opportunity to return to the top four.

“I don’t want to forget Arsenal, I don’t want to forget Manchester City or any other teams. I don’t know if Arsenal, Aston Villa, Tottenham or Liverpool can fight for the title, but I know that to play against them is not easy.

“It’s a very competitive championship, this. Staying at the top of the list, for us, for six months is a very good situation.

“We did a very good job in these six months to maintain this first place in the league.”

Ancelotti, however, believes Mancini will find it difficult to attract top players to Eastlands when the January transfer window opens.

“I think it’s very difficult to buy top players at this moment,” he said.

“The teams that have top players keep them in January. That’s normal.”

Ancelotti’s attention turns to the FA Cup this weekend, with his side hosting Watford on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.

The Chelsea boss has France striker Nicolas Anelka returning from a calf problem but Didier Drogba, John Mikel Obi and Salomon Kalou have gone to the African Nations Cup, and Michael Essien will join them when he recovers from injury.

Ancelotti is still expected to pick a strong team against Coca-Cola Championship opponents.

“I want to put out my best team,” he said.

Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack, meanwhile, insists it is unfair to put Chelsea’s youngsters under pressure as the Blues face January without their African players.

Ancelotti insists he will not spend this month in the January transfer market – preferring to place his trust in a host of second-string youngsters at Stamford Bridge.

But the experienced Germany captain feels it would be unfair to heap the pressure on players like Gael Kakuta, Nemanja Matic, Fabio Borini, Jeffrey Bruma and Daniel Sturridge.

“The pressure shouldn’t be on these players because they are young,” said Ballack.

“There shouldn’t be so much focus on them, they should have time to grow.

“We’ll see what the manager thinks about the situation but I hope there is not too much pressure on the young boys.

“It would not be fair to say they have to fill this gap, it is a big challenge and there are a lot of other players that can do it. But, for the young guys it is a chance with no pressure to have a few more games than before and make a name and help the team.”

A run of just one win in seven ended with victory over Fulham on Monday and now Ballack believes Chelsea can continue to lead the table in January.

“We have a strong squad, we have always shown this,” added the German. “During the season so far we have had a few injuries but we can still compete and I hope we can deal with the situation.

“Everyone wants to beat us now as we have seen in the last months when we played against even the teams fighting at the bottom, and that’s what we will expect in the next weeks.

“We are on top of the league and it is different to play like this from the front, everyone wants to catch us.

“We have to be strong and stay together, especially in January and try to replace the players that have left for the African Nations Cup.

“We have to cover this period and try still to be in first position when the African players return from the African Nations Cup.”