Blues buoyed by Roman’s blessing
The Blues are in the midst of their worst run for over a decade but the Italian does not fear for his job and insists he has the support of the Russian billionaire and his players.
“I don’t fear for my job,” said Ancelotti. “I feel I have the total support of my players, which is very important. I feel I have the total support from my club. For these reasons, I don’t have fear.
“I am an optimist that everything will be okay for this season. I spoke with Roman after the game on Wednesday and he gave me total support.
“He understood the problem of the team. He’s doing his best to give every one of us at the club, my players and my staff, his total support.”
Chelsea have slipped to third in the table after just two wins in their last eight games in all competitions. They have not won in the Premier League since their home victory over Fulham on November 10.
But Ancelotti believes his players still have an appetite to emerge from their slump in time to retain their title.
“I don’t think it’s a question of appetite,” said Ancelotti. “The players have appetite. They have good motivation. Everyone knows it’s not a good moment now and we’re not happy. We were very happy when we won the double.
“So it’s easy to have good motivation now because every one of us is not happy. We have to leave this moment. We must do everything to move on quickly.
“The team is unhappy in this moment, but the players are focused and working hard to move on. It’s very difficult. The easy things are difficult at this moment, but we can’t lose confidence.
“We have skill, we have ability, we have personality. We can move on and stay in the fight for the title. Obviously we want to move on.
“We will use the game against Tottenham to move on. I don’t know if that’s possible because they’re a strong team, but surely we’ll do our best against Tottenham.
“Everyone thinks Chelsea aren’t good enough to fight for the title because our last month was not good. But I think we’ll be in competition also this year.”
Ancelotti will be without the services of Frank Lampard as the England midfielder is still not fully fit and short of match practice following groin and tendon injuries.
Meanwhile, Joe Jordan yesterday urged Tottenham’s players to take full advantage of faltering Chelsea and put themselves right in the title battle.
Defeat on Sunday would see Spurs close to within a point of their London rivals and Jordan believes the door is open for his side and others to steal the Blues’ crown.
“Chelsea have stuttered and they’ve let the other teams in,” said first-team coach Jordan, who assumed pre-match media duties yesterday morning after manager Harry Redknapp fell ill.
“Not only that, but they’ve let the other teams in, I think, in believing that there is an opening this season for not just Manchester United and Chelsea to repeat what they have been doing, but other clubs.
“I think it is an open championship; I think there are opportunities there.”
Jordan added: “You look at the top teams and you think, ‘This is a chance’.
“The top two teams aren’t showing the form that they did last year.
“So that, to me, indicates that there is a chance that someone — one or two teams — could get in the pack.”
In stark contrast to Chelsea, Tottenham are in arguably their best form of the season, having put together a seven-match unbeaten run that has seen them stay in touch with the Premier League pacesetters and top their Champions League group.
They will be expected in many quarters to pile on the misery for their opponents tomorrow.
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