Carlo Ancelotti, a self-confessed fan of statistics, believes a points tally of 86 would be enough for Chelsea to take the league title.
With our current total on 65, that means Chelsea can afford to drop only three points in the remaining eight games to reach the manager's target. He is also clear those three points cannot be let slip in the game against Manchester United.
'I like statistics and I think that in the past with 86 points every team has won the title. I think that we need to get 86 points to win,' he says.
Ancelotti is naturally demanding the full three points collected from the visit to bottom club Portsmouth on Wednesday and for that challenge he welcomes Petr Cech back in goal after five games out with a calf injury.
The goalkeeper injury picture is improving fast with groin strain victim Hilario expected to be fit for Saturday's visit by Aston Villa. Ancelotti also has an update on Ashley Cole's ankle fracture.
'Ashley's recovery is going very well,' he says.
'He started to train in the sand today and I think that he will start to train on the normal ground in 15 days, so he will be ready to play before the last game of the season.'
There was not so good news on another full back however. Ancelotti confirms Branislav Ivanovic suffered a tear in a collateral medial knee ligament during the Blackburn game.
'Ivanovic is an important player for us. He is out for one month but we hope to recover him before this period. We have fortunately recovered Yury Zhirkov so we can put Paulo Ferreira at right back and Zhirkov at left back.
'The mood was not good after the Blackburn game because when we don't win we are disappointed,' the manager continues.
'But we have a possibility to come back on Wednesday. We know our results have not been good enough because we have the possibility to win every game and we haven't done this, but I am happy with the players' attitude and everyone has kept the right behaviour, players and club.'
The Italian insists that with hindsight he remains happy with the preparations for the Inter and Blackburn games and is not dropping his attention to detail ahead of Portsmouth.
'I know Portsmouth have a lot of difficulties but I also know Portsmouth won their last game against Hull when they were 2-1 down and in two minutes they won the game. We have to pay attention because they have the possibility to play without pressure so they can do a good job against us.'
With our current total on 65, that means Chelsea can afford to drop only three points in the remaining eight games to reach the manager's target. He is also clear those three points cannot be let slip in the game against Manchester United.
'I like statistics and I think that in the past with 86 points every team has won the title. I think that we need to get 86 points to win,' he says.
Ancelotti is naturally demanding the full three points collected from the visit to bottom club Portsmouth on Wednesday and for that challenge he welcomes Petr Cech back in goal after five games out with a calf injury.
The goalkeeper injury picture is improving fast with groin strain victim Hilario expected to be fit for Saturday's visit by Aston Villa. Ancelotti also has an update on Ashley Cole's ankle fracture.
'Ashley's recovery is going very well,' he says.
'He started to train in the sand today and I think that he will start to train on the normal ground in 15 days, so he will be ready to play before the last game of the season.'
There was not so good news on another full back however. Ancelotti confirms Branislav Ivanovic suffered a tear in a collateral medial knee ligament during the Blackburn game.
'Ivanovic is an important player for us. He is out for one month but we hope to recover him before this period. We have fortunately recovered Yury Zhirkov so we can put Paulo Ferreira at right back and Zhirkov at left back.
'The mood was not good after the Blackburn game because when we don't win we are disappointed,' the manager continues.
'But we have a possibility to come back on Wednesday. We know our results have not been good enough because we have the possibility to win every game and we haven't done this, but I am happy with the players' attitude and everyone has kept the right behaviour, players and club.'
The Italian insists that with hindsight he remains happy with the preparations for the Inter and Blackburn games and is not dropping his attention to detail ahead of Portsmouth.
'I know Portsmouth have a lot of difficulties but I also know Portsmouth won their last game against Hull when they were 2-1 down and in two minutes they won the game. We have to pay attention because they have the possibility to play without pressure so they can do a good job against us.'
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