John Terry has issued a final top-four rallying call and described the visit to Stamford Bridge of Premier League leaders Manchester United on Tuesday as “must win” for Chelsea (11/10 Chelsea, draw 23/10, Manchester United 23/10 – match betting).
The Blues trail Sir Alex Ferguson’s side by 15 points in fifth place but victory would lift them into Champions League contention and skipper Terry accepts there can be no more slip-ups at this stage of the season.
A wretched end to 2010 has effectively killed the west Londoners’ hopes of retaining their Premier League trophy but Terry believes they can still end the season with a flourish – starting against United.
The fixture, originally scheduled for December but postponed because of heavy snow, means the Reds have two huge Premier League fixtures in less than a week – on Saturday they travel to Liverpool – and Terry says they are not untouchable.
“We are very confident at home and the way they (United) play might help us,” Terry said.
“I’m not sure how they are going to come at us but other teams that have come to the Bridge have sat back and we’ve found it hard to break them down.
“It is a must-win game for us and the fans are going to be up for it.”
United have just won four league matches on the road this season and have not triumphed at Stamford Bridge since a 3-0 triumph in 2002.
Next up after the visit to Chelsea is an awkward assignment against bitter rivals Liverpool and Portugal winger Nani has identified the two games as potentially decisive in the race for the title.
“We have some tough games coming up,” the Portugal winger told the official club website.
“It’s the most important period of the season and I think that if we can beat Chelsea and Liverpool then we’ll have a fantastic opportunity to win the league.”
United are likely to be without defensive pair Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand because of ankle and calf injuries respectively, while Anderson, Park Ji-Sung and Antonio Valencia are weeks away from returning.
Ferguson is likely to play Wayne Rooney in the lone striker role in front of a five-man midfield if he decides United do not need to rush Tuesday’s game and the advice here would be to look away from the outrights.
It is difficult to make a case for a glut of goals in a game of such significance and the worry is that these two could cancel each other out.
A way in at 4/1 could be the draw-draw half-time/full-time outcome given that United will be happy to try and control this match from the middle and avoid defeat rather than risk going gung-ho and leave with no capital gains.
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