Blue heaven: Kalou (right) celebrates one of his three goalsChelsea stormed back to the top of the Barclays Premier League with a 7-0 destruction of Stoke and turned their sights to a showdown at Liverpool.
With Wigan to play at home on the final day of the campaign on May 9, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti will feel a victory at Anfield on Sunday holds the key to his title dream.
The Italian’s side are one point ahead of Manchester United with two games to play and he can emulate Jose Mourinho by winning the Premier League in his first season in England.
‘Now, the most important game is Liverpool,’ said Ancelotti.
‘We have a week to prepare and we’ll do our best. I hope we play like we played today. It will be difficult, Liverpool are a fantastic team, still going for fourth place.
'We are going for first and it is ours to lose.
‘To have the title in our hands is a good thing. I think United are able to win their two games against Sunderland and Stoke. Our aim is to win two games.
'If we do that, we are champions.’
After losing at Spurs, Chelsea came out determined to prove they were not faltering under pressure, and Salomon Kalou led the way with a hat-trick.
The rout means Chelsea have scored 93 League goals this season, including the 7-1 rout of Aston Villa last month, and have a goal difference eight better than United’s.
‘I would have preferred to keep two or three goals for next week,’ said Ancelotti.
Confident mood: Carlo Ancelotti ‘We didn’t need to send a message but this was a good message for us. We needed a good reaction to the defeat at Tottenham, and we did that.
‘There was a bit of pressure on us before the game but we were focused and put in a fantastic performance.
'Goal difference is not important. I don’t think it will decide the title. We’ve scored a lot of goals this season. This is our philosophy. We want to attack.
‘We’ve changed something. If Chelsea play good football and people see that, we are happy. That’s our aim.’
Stoke lost captain Abdoulaye Faye and goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen to injury in the first half. The Dane dislocated an elbow trying to stop Kalou’s second goal and could miss the World Cup.
Painful: Thomas Sorensen was left with a dislocated elbow after clash with KalouTo make matters worse, striker Dave Kitson stormed off when he was substituted, flicking a V-sign in the direction of Stoke manager Tony Pulis and rejecting the handshake offered by substitute Tuncay.
‘It’s a bit of a disease,’ said Pulis, who cancelled his players’ planned day off today.
‘Tuncay’s also done that before. We’ll have a word.’
Pulis said: ‘We just got murdered. We were lucky to get nil. We’ve trained well this week but we had five or six players well off it.
'That’s the first time we’ve been beaten away in the league this year but if you’re carrying six players you’ll struggle against a third division team.’
source: dailymail
