Chelsea put in one of their best performances of the season yesterday when they beat Bolton 5-1, a performance that manager Andre Villas-Boas thinks could spur his talented side on towards the Premier League title.
Chelsea are just three points behind the two Manchester clubs heading into the two week international break and Villas-Boas was a happy man yesterday. Speaking to the press after the game he said, “I’m very happy with such a performance before an international break and after all the positive results for our opponents on Saturday. Next game, two title contenders play each other — Liverpool and Manchester United. Then the two Manchester clubs play each other the week after that.”
Lets just hope that they all take points off each other in those games. Villas-Boas is not concerned about the other teams though he just wants his team to keep on winning. He added, “It is important for us to continue to win and close the gap. We have a difficult game against Everton and then another difficult game with QPR. But, hopefully, if we manage to get six points out of those matches, it will put us in an even better position.”
It certainly will Andre and there is no reason why we should not claim six points from those two games, providing all our players report back next week from their respective countries with no injuries.
The talk at the moment is that either United or City will win the title, but AVB is confident in his team challenging come the end of the season. He added, “This squad is full of competence and the talent has never been in question. We have enough talent to challenge for the Premier League. We have been looking towards this victory for some time. It happened here because we were more prolific in front of goal.”
I also believe that we can challenge City and United. City have only played Spurs of any note, and have played all the three teams at the bottom, while United have only really been tested by ourselves and Norwich on Saturday. It is going to be a great season at the Bridge, lets hope the early season promise is turned into something by the end of the season.
I want to believe we are not by this result overrating our performance. I do not share the excitement about our performance against a team that has become our regular customer; that is one. Even then, Man U thrashed Bolton 5 goals without conceding a goal. Secondly, how good we are or how far we have turned the corner, should not be measured against teams like bolton that are struggling. We conceded a goal from the same suspicious weakness in defending set plays. I will be much more assured if we present, maintain and sustain this kind of display against a more quality opposition, that can exploit our weaknesses.