Villas-Boas: Title hopes slipping

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas says it will be difficult for his side to win this season’s Premier League title.

Villas-Boas’ men were held to a 1-1 draw against a gallant Fulham at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, as Chelsea dropped to 11 points behind league leaders Manchester City.

“There’s no big drama in terms of how we look at things,” Villas-Boas said after the match, insisting he was not panicking.

“But you have to be sufficiently real. The difference between us and the top will be big. With (Manchester) City and (Manchester) United continuing to get the points they are getting at the moment, it’ll be difficult.”

“That is the perspective we have to make at the moment: it’s difficult. It’s not impossible. You cannot say that. But we have to focus on our position at the moment and make a real assessment. Maybe the Premier League is over for us at the moment.”

“You have to be real. You cannot live under false expectations when the gap is this big.”

Villas-Boas admitted his side did not deserve the win and praised Fulham’s back-up goalkeeper David Stockdale, who starred as he kept Chelsea at bay.

“Today we weren’t good enough to get the three points, that was pretty clear,” he said.

“We created enough chances to try to win the game. We had a good second half, had a lot of good opportunities, but always collided against a brave Fulham defence or against Stockdale, who had a fantastic game.”

Fulham manager Martin Jol was happy his side’s change in formation paid off as they bounced back from a heavy 5-0 home defeat against Manchester United.

“We played in a different way today, with a 4-3-3 instead of a 4-4-2,” he said.

“It was all about how we played. United tried to play around us and they did. We made the decision to play five in midfield as any team in England will have problems against them.

“Sometimes you have to take a gamble and that is what we did today. We had to come up with something else and it paid off. The Manchester United game was very disappointing, but today we showed that against Chelsea we can get a good result.”

Jol also sang the praises of 18-year-old Austrian midfielder Kerim Frei who impressed in his first start for the club.

“I was very pleased with Frei,” he said.

“He played here in the League Cup and we should have won.”

“In that game he was the best player on the pitch, so I thought maybe he can do it again.”