Scolari looking for a minimum of one point

Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said on Monday he was looking to gain at least a point from Tuesday's Champions League clash against AS Roma in the Italian capital.

The Londoners are in control of Group A on seven points from three matches and should they win in the Stadio Olimpico, and Romanian debutants CFR 1907 Cluj beat Bordeaux, then Scolari's men will have qualified for the knock-out phase.

That would be the first step en route to a return to Rome where the final will be held in May, but Scolari is concentrating on the job at hand and not looking too far ahead.

“It's a long way to go to May and first we need to win tomorrow (Tuesday), or get a minimum of one point,” he said.

“We need to qualify for the second round and then win every other round to reach the final.

“We're not here to show the people something with May in mind. Tomorrow we have to beat Roma.

“It's a long way away, we're not here to prepare for May, if we have a chance to, for sure we'll try to come back to this stadium.”

Chelsea have been in great form this season and currently sit top of the Premier League, in stark contrast to Roma's dire showing in Serie A until now.

The capital-based club have lost six of their nine league matches and are hovering precariously just one point and one place above the relegation zone.

Scolari said these things can happen to good sides and that they just need to work hard to turn things around.

“It's impossible for me to explain it because I don't live in Rome and I don't know what's happening,” he said of Roma's dismal start to the season.

“I know, because I'm a coach, that sometimes we try to do our best but we don't manage to do as well as the previous season.

“I want to say to you and to Luciano Spalletti (the Roma coach), because he's a great friend of mine, work, work and try to change something.

“Maybe tomorrow will be the first opportunity to do so. When I've had these problems in the past I worked harder and tried to change things, that's it.”

It's a daunting task for Roma, sitting third in the group on three points, four behind Chelsea.

If they fail to win they may need to take three points in Romania in three weeks time just to avoid elimination.

Scolari doesn't have any such problems and is simply looking forward to welcoming back some injured players.

“I think we've played some very good games. There were one or two games where we didn't play well and we paid for this,” he added.

“Every day in training we try to do something more than before because maybe in the future we'll need it.

“In the future I'll have more options. When we get players back from injury, such as Riccardo Carvalho, (Michael) Essien, (Michael) Ballack and Ashley Cole I will have more options and that's very good for me.”

The worrying prospect for the rest of the teams in the Champions League is that Scolari doesn't think his team have even hit top form yet.

If they do against Roma, Spalletti's problems could be about to grow even bigger.