Chelsea must win 15 of 17 games left to stay in Premiere League title hunt: Ancelotti

LONDON - Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has said that they must win at least 15 of their remaining 17 Premier League games to stand any chance of retaining the title.

Giving up hope of closing the nine-point gap on leaders Manchester United, he said his greatest concern now is securing a top-four finish just to guarantee Champions League football at Stamford Bridge next season.

Ancelotti said: “To win the title from here would be my greatest achievement as a coach. We needed 86 points to win it last year. This time it will be less, 80 points could be enough.”

“We will try to do that but it will be tough from here. In the Premier League, Manchester United have more possibilities to win the title. They are nine points ahead of us and they also have a match in hand. To close the gap on them we obviously have to win both our games against them,” The Sun quoted him, as saying.

Ancelotti’s view was shared by striker Nicolas Anelka, who won the title with Arsenal in 1998 despite trailing by 13 points at one stage of the season.

Anelka said: “We have to win every game from now on but that is going to be very hard. The most important thing is to win against all the teams around us. At Arsenal in 1998 we had the belief that anything was possible and now we all need to work together as a team.”

Chelsea is fifth in the table, their lowest league position of the Roman Abramovich era. (ANI)