Ancelotti refusing to give up hope

Carlo Ancelotti
12 April 2012

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is a firm believer that anything can happen in football and has therefore not given up hope of his side defending their Barclays Premier League title.

The Blues' only realistic hope of overhauling leaders Manchester United would be to win all of their remaining games - including at Old Trafford in two weeks - and hope Arsenal beat the Red Devils on Sunday. A Chelsea victory over Tottenham on Saturday would crank up the pressure on United ahead of that game, according to Ancelotti.

"If we are able to win against Tottenham, I think we can put more pressure on Manchester United in the game against Arsenal," he said.

Were Chelsea also to win at Old Trafford, the teams would be level on points with two games remaining, raising the prospect of the title being decided on goal difference.

"It can happen," said the Italian, whose side trounced West Ham 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Ancelotti has not given up hope of a United meltdown in the final four games of the season after suffering one himself 11 years ago.

He was in charge of Juventus back in 2000 when they appeared certain to win the Serie A title after holding a five-point lead with three matches remaining - having led by nine points five games earlier.

But a major collapse saw them famously pipped to the title by Sven-Goran Eriksson's Lazio on a dramatic last day of the campaign.

Ancelotti said: "I lost a title nine points up with eight games to go. It can happen.

"It's not a nice feeling. It was very difficult to think two months ago that we could stay with the lead so for this reason, at this moment, we are happy."

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