Source: Telegraph
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti makes light of crunch time as Aston Villa clash looms
If one believes all that is written about him, Ancelotti might as well start packing his bags ready for a swift return to Italy after Chelsea's perennial failing in the Champions League. [LNB]The Chelsea Flower Show is still two months away, but if Ancelotti's current crop wilt in that period, while another hardy annual Manchester United go on to bloom in the title race, Roman Abramovich's field of dreams will lie fallow once again. And we all know what that usually brings a change of manager. [LNB] Related ArticlesDrogba: goals nothing without silverwarePremier League predictionsRicardo Carvalho ruled out for a monthAncelotti: we must treat each game like a finalPortsmouth 0 Chelsea 5Sport on televisionYet Ancelotti was remarkably light-hearted after training on Friday, refusing to admit that the pressure is getting to him, cracking jokes with the media, and staying upbeat about his side's chances of getting their challenge back on track. [LNB]Not for him the doubts that are said to haunt some of his players' minds. He is a pragmatist, and loves his statistics. When asked if he had ever had a gut feeling that one of his sides was either going to win or lose a championship, he responded: "You are only sure to win the title when the algorithms say so," which approximates to the English cliché about mathematical certainty. [LNB]He even mocked his own inability to find the right word to describe Chelsea's reaction at Portsmouth on Wednesday, having lost to Inter Milan and dropped two points at Blackburn last week. [LNB]"Indicazione," was what he settled on, to describe the encouragement he took from Chelsea's 5-0 demolition of doomed Portsmouth to achieve some sense of closure after a bad month since their 4-2 home defeat by Manchester City four weeks ago. [LNB]"It was a very important game, because I wanted to know if our bad moment was finished," he said. "We had a good reaction, played well for 90 minutes, with determination and were a little bit lucky. This is a good thing. It means things are changing."[LNB]And not just on the field, but in the dressing room too. He said: "After the game there was a different atmosphere; excited, confident.The players believe they can win the title because they have been top for eight months. I think we deserve to win the title, but the next game is very important."[LNB]That is Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Chelsea's chance to avenge their 2-1 defeat at Villa Park last October. Villa's manager Martin O'Neill has other ideas. [LNB]He has set his sights on pulling off a treble against Chelsea. He is aiming to clinch a league double to revive his side's bid to qualify for the Champions League and then follow it up by also beating Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. [LNB]Having drawn seven of their last 10 league games, Villa badly need three points against Chelsea to stay in the race for a fourth-place finish. [LNB]O'Neill said: 'They are two big games against Chelsea no doubt about that. We have our own incentives and are still in there fighting despite the last two results being draws. Up and down results at this stage of the season are inevitable. [LNB]'It is a case of hanging in there and getting a couple of results to keep that gap there so when it gets really tight for the last four or five games we are still in there with a shout.'[LNB]
