Mata says Blues gunning for City
The must-win games keep on coming for Andre Villas-Boas’s resurgent Blues, whose 3-0 victory over Valencia on Tuesday night ensured they avoided crashing out of Europe’s premier club competition before Christmas for the first time.
Their next mission is to try to cut the 10-point gap to Premier League leaders City, who visit Stamford Bridge on Monday night.
Victory would haul fourth-placed Chelsea right back into contention, as well being a huge boost to the championship ambitions of Manchester United and Tottenham.
Defeat would be a massive blow to Chelsea’s title hopes and make City even firmer favourites to be crowned champions for the first time in 44 years.
But Mata was not interested in the implications of falling 13 points adrift, saying: “I’m just thinking of winning.”
Some have already dismissed Chelsea’s title bid, but Mata added: “It is not impossible.
“There are so many weeks until the Premier League finishes. We will keep going every week to win and to be closest to the leader.”
The 23-year-old, who has been a revelation since his £23.5million summer move from Valencia, is under no illusions how hard it will be to stop a team that won 6-1 at Old Trafford in October.
“Man City are having a great Premier League,” he said. “They are the leaders, they win in every game and we hope that here at Stamford Bridge they will have a difficult game.”
Mata also acknowledged Chelsea will have to play a lot better than in their matches against other top clubs this season, having failed to take a point from Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United.
He said: “We lost against Liverpool, against Arsenal, against Manchester United, but we hope that against Manchester City we’ll change this.”
It will be fascinating to see what tactics Villas-Boas adopts against City having sacrificed his ideals on Tuesday night to secure victory.
The 34-year-old had previously been adamant his cavalier approach would never alter, but it now seems he is prepared to compromise when necessary, with a counter-attacking approach paying off against Valencia.
Not that Villas-Boas acknowledged he had played it safe, electing instead to hit out at Chelsea’s critics and suggest there was an agenda against the club.
Mata was also pleased to silence the doubters, but was far more interested in celebrating what turned out to be a perfect evening, with the Blues topping the group.
That meant a last-16 clash against the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich was avoided.
Mata, who set up both Didier Drogba’s goals, said: “This is very, very important.
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