Chelsea eye easy draw

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has warned his teammates they must cut out their habit of making careless mistakes if the Blues are to make a serious bid to win the Champions League. Jose Mourinho’s side face Steaua Bucharest in their final Group E fixture at Stamford Bridge tonight still smarting from a surprise 3-2 defeat at Stoke at the weekend. Chelsea have already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, but a victory against Romanian minnows Steaua is essential to ensure Chelsea finish top of group, and in theory secure an easier draw in the knockout stages.

To do that they will need to be far more steady at the back than in recent weeks.
The loss at Stoke not only damaged Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League, but also exposed a worryingly soft defence that has now conceded six goals in just two matches. In Mourinho’s previous spell in charge, the Blues boss prided himself on sending out teams with supremely-disciplined defences that were rarely breached and hardly ever due to sloppy play.

But the current defensive crop have been far less solid of late and England centre-back Cahill believes that is down to individual errors.
“Losing games is a concern. We’ve kept a lot of clean sheets this season, but in the last two games we’ve let too many goals in. That’s unlike us and it’s down to individual mistakes,” Cahill said. “We talked about it after Sunderland and there were unfortunate incidents at the set-pieces. We’ve had a look at it and they were not major mistakes. Maybe it’s just a bit of bad luck but obviously, away from home, we’ve got to keep it tight.

“I feel we’ve done that most of the season, but this result was poor for us.”
Chelsea have now conceded more goals in the league than in the whole of Mourinho’s first season in charge in 2004-05 when they won the Premier League.

Set-pieces have been a particular concern, and goalkeeper Petr Cech was culpable for Peter Crouch’s goal at Stoke. Mourinho knows Chelsea must become tougher at the back to thrive in the latter stages of Europe’s elite club competition, yet he needs to strike a balance between sending out defensive-minded teams and ensuring he doesn’t dilute the talents of playmakers like Eden Hazard. The Belgian has been in fine form and underlined his class with two goals and an assist in the 4-3 win at Sunderland last week.

Mourinho is still not completely satisfied with Hazard however and he said: “Eden has to try to improve the way he starts every game – the focus, the ambition, the mentality. If he does that, the potential is very good,” Mourinho said.

Meanwhile, AC Milan need only a point against Ajax tonight to secure entry to the last 16 of the Champions League, but embattled coach Massimiliano Allegri is taking nothing for granted.

For the second consecutive season Milan’s run-in to Christmas is anything but festive: they currently sit ninth in Serie A, 22 points behind leaders Juventus and 14 adrift of the first Champions League qualifying spot.

With Ajax conceding only three defeats on their way to second place in the Dutch top flight, Allegri says it would be a mistake to underestimate Frank De Boer’s side, who, with a win, would qualify.

Milan’s 3-0 rout of Celtic in Scotland a fortnight ago, when Ajax stunned Barcelona 2-1 in Amsterdam to stay in contention, kept the Italian giants in second place in Group H with a one-point lead on the Dutchmen.

It means the seven-time European champions need just a point at the San Siro to join leaders Barcelona in the knockout phase.
But despite Ajax’s mediocre away form in the competition – they have not won any of their last six away fixtures – Milan are not entertaining playing for a draw, and hope to draw on the current form of striker Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli last week ended a two-month goal drought in Serie A when he scored Milan’s second in a 3-1 win away to basement side Catania.
On Saturday the 23-year-old scored twice, including a stunning free kick from distance seven minutes from time, in a 2-2 draw away to Livorno and could have had a hat-trick only for a looping drive smack off the crossbar at the death. While pundits in Italy suggest his purple patch is down to Allegri’s demand for more “consistency” and “intensity”, Balotelli was dismissive.

“The goals had dried up, that was all. Tonight I scored two, I could have had three,” said Balotelli, who saved Milan’s blushes in Amsterdam with an injury-time penalty which secured a precious 1-1 draw.

Fixtures
Barcelona v Celtic, Camp Nou 21:45, FK Austria Wien v Zenit St Petersburg, Ernst Happel Stadium 21:45, Milan v Ajax, Giuseppe Meazza 21:45, Napoli v Arsenal, San Paolo 21:45, Marseille v Borussia Dortmund, Stade Valodrome 21:45, Chelsea v Steaua Bucharest, Stamford Bridge 21:45, FC Schalke 04 v Basel, VELTINS-Arena 21:45, Atletico de Madrid v FC Porto, Vicente Caldern 21:45 -AP.