Anelka upbeat on Chelsea title chances

Nicolas Anelka is backing Chelsea to remain in the English Premier League title race despite their recent form slump.

Chelsea beat Bolton 1-0 on Wednesday to record their first win in seven league matches – the team’s worst run of form since Roman Abramovich took over the club in 2003.

Despite their poor results, Chelsea remain just four points off league leaders Manchester United, a measure of an unpredictable season that Anelka believes is far from decided.

“It’s not a surprise for me the way this season has gone,” the Frenchman said.

“We did very well at the beginning and we’ve had a little difficulty recently, but there are still a lot of games left and it’s going to be a very tough season.”

“That’s the way the league is now – when you have more big teams, you have more big games, so it’s going to be very tight all the way through.”

“If you drop points one day, it doesn’t mean you will still be behind 15 games later anymore because anything can happen each week.”

“We’ve dropped points, but sometimes it’s like that – football is not always beautiful. You have to be strong in your head to pass these hard times.”

“It’s better when things are easier, of course. But life is not always easy, so we have to stay strong and see what happens. It doesn’t affect the way we approach matches because we always want to win.”