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Petr Cech concedes Chelsea cannot win the Premier League after 1-1 draw with Swansea City
The Czech Republic international feels that the 12-point gap between the Blues and the joint-leaders is too much to overhaul after a game of two halves at the Liberty Stadium
1 Feb 2012 15:18:00
By George Ankers
Petr Cech has conceded that winning the Premier League title is out of the question for Chelsea after a 1-1 draw with Swansea City further set their hopes back.
The Czech goalkeeper believes that joint-leaders Manchester City and Manchester United are too good to let a 12-point advantage slip and is now aiming to overhaul Tottenham for a third-place finish.
“We don't even have to mention the word 'title' because the Manchester clubs will not drop many points - that's the reality,” the 29-year-old admitted to his official website.
“I still think it is realistic to target the third sport, though. For that we will need to succeed in Sunday's tough match [at home to United].”
The Blues broke Welsh hearts with a stoppage-time equaliser on Wednesday, Neil Taylor turning Jose Bosingwa’s cross into his own net to cancel out a first-half strike from former Chelsea man Scott Sinclair.
And Cech admitted that his side, who had Ashley Cole sent off late in the game, had not been at their best in the opening 45 minutes but felt that their play after the restart warranted the point.
“In the first half, we were not playing well at all but after the break it was completely different,” he observed.
“We put Swansea under pressure, did not allow them to pass the ball at ease. However, once again we were unable to give the final pass into their box.
“Even with 10 men we were pushing ourselves forward and the effort was rewarded with an equaliser in stoppage time.
“Bosingwa's shot was deflected by a Swansea player, so in the end we must take the point.
“Naturally, we wanted to win but nobody has it easy playing at Swansea. They have lost just one home match this season.”
Andre Villas-Boas’ men have the visit of Manchester United to Stamford Bridge to contend with next on Sunday.
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The Czech goalkeeper believes that joint-leaders Manchester City and Manchester United are too good to let a 12-point advantage slip and is now aiming to overhaul Tottenham for a third-place finish.
“We don't even have to mention the word 'title' because the Manchester clubs will not drop many points - that's the reality,” the 29-year-old admitted to his official website.
“I still think it is realistic to target the third sport, though. For that we will need to succeed in Sunday's tough match [at home to United].”
The Blues broke Welsh hearts with a stoppage-time equaliser on Wednesday, Neil Taylor turning Jose Bosingwa’s cross into his own net to cancel out a first-half strike from former Chelsea man Scott Sinclair.
And Cech admitted that his side, who had Ashley Cole sent off late in the game, had not been at their best in the opening 45 minutes but felt that their play after the restart warranted the point.
“In the first half, we were not playing well at all but after the break it was completely different,” he observed.
“We put Swansea under pressure, did not allow them to pass the ball at ease. However, once again we were unable to give the final pass into their box.
“Even with 10 men we were pushing ourselves forward and the effort was rewarded with an equaliser in stoppage time.
“Bosingwa's shot was deflected by a Swansea player, so in the end we must take the point.
“Naturally, we wanted to win but nobody has it easy playing at Swansea. They have lost just one home match this season.”
Andre Villas-Boas’ men have the visit of Manchester United to Stamford Bridge to contend with next on Sunday.
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Live!
England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.
Hosted by Joe Doyle
Hosted by Joe Doyle
19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.
"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."
Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
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