Ancelotti admits Man United favourites to win the league

Carlo Ancelotti last night admitted Manchester United were the new favourites to win the Premier League.

Chelsea are four points behind United in third following their slip-up at Blackburn with a game in hand.

It is the furthest the Blues have been behind in the title race after setting the pace all season and Ancelotti admits it will be difficult for them to win.

“Manchester United are the favourites because they are top,” said the Chelsea boss. “We have to do better. It’s a difficult moment now and we have to leave this moment as soon as we can.

“This difficult moment started against Manchester City. We lost that game after a good first half.

“This result is disappointing because we have lost two points, important points. But I think we don’t have to lose our confidence and composure. We are still in a good position and we still have a good chance to arrive in first place.

“It’s more difficult, but I think we can still do it. We are behind now and we have to run more, but we don’t have to lose our confidence.

“The pressure was already on us because we needed to win this game. We didn’t do this and so it’s more difficult now.

“We have to think about the next game on Wednesday and we need to come back and win.”

Ancelotti, who claims Petr Cech should be back for Wednesday’s clash with Portsmouth, admitted this past week has been the toughest of his Chelsea reign with this setback coming on top of their Champions League exit to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan.

“Yes, it has been my hardest week, but every week is hard,” he said. “We have to work and prepare well for each game and we will prepare well for our next game against Portsmouth.

“I don’t know if there was a hangover from the Champions League defeat. I think we prepared very well for this game and we tried to win this game.

“It’s not a nice moment for us. It will be difficult for us to win the title now, but not impossible.”

Sam Allardyce admitted he had done his pal Sir Alex Ferguson a big favour but said he was more bothered about guiding Rovers to safety.

“It helps them a little bit, but it was for us, not for Sir Alex,” said the Rovers boss. “It’s another point towards safety.

“It’s a great start to a big week for us. We’ve got Birmingham on Wednesday and then Burnley on Sunday and if we continue to play like that we can secure our Premier League status.”