Chelsea will steal title from tired rivals: Ancelotti

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has warned Manchester United and Arsenal that their attempts to win the Champions League could cost them the English title.

While Chelsea now have extra time to focus on the Premier League after their European exit against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, there will be no rest for United and Arsenal over the coming month.

United, who sit one point ahead of Chelsea at the top of the table, face Bayern Munich in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition, while Arsenal, who are one point behind the Blues, will take on holders Barcelona.

Ancelotti believes the physical and mental energy expended by Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams on those ties could work in his own side’s favour.

United will face Bayern next Tuesday and then welcome Chelsea to Old Trafford four days later and Ancelotti is hoping to make the most of any United fatigue.

“Mentally, it wasn’t good for us to go out of the Champions League,” Ancelotti said. “But after the victory against Portsmouth, this moment is finished. We have to look at every game. We play Aston Villa and then have a week to prepare for Manchester United.

“That could be an advantage for us. Before, we had midweek games. We are disappointed to be out of the Champions League, but it could be an advantage.

“The quarter-finals will take out a lot of energy, not only physically but mentally. We can take advantage of that if we prepare well our own games, and if we play with good tempo, a good high tempo.

“The pressure is the same for all the teams now. We are arriving towards the end of the season and every game is very important. The pressure is normal at this stage of the season.”

Before they face United, Chelsea must overcome an Aston Villa side, who beat the Blues 2-1 earlier in the season.

Ancelotti is determined not to let his players look past the Villa match to the crucial battle at Old Trafford.

“United will be an important game, but it’s for three points,” he said. “We have to think about the Villa game, not the United game.

“The last time we played Villa we lost, so we want to do different. For me, now, the most important game is Villa, not United.”

Chelsea’s chances of landing the title have been made all the more difficult by a growing injury list.

The latest casualty is Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho, who will be out for a month, although he will not require surgery on his damaged ankle ligaments.

Ancelotti is boosted by the return of midfielder Michael Ballack from the Achilles injury that kept him out of the 5-0 midweek win over Portsmouth.

“Carvalho had an injury on Wednesday and will be out maybe for four weeks, and so we are unlucky at this moment,” he added.

“He doesn’t need to have surgery. He will come to do treatment next week at the beginning of the week.

“We have a problem with the defenders at the moment so we have to stay focused in our defensive positions. We all have a responsibility to do this.

“If it’s necessary, I’ll use the younger players and they’re ready to play. They don’t have experience, but they have other things. They are strong, they have quality, they have grown up very well.”