MANCHESTER, England (AFP) - Chelsea will look to bounce back from an unexpected Champions League defeat at the hands of Fenerbahce by keeping their bid for the Premier League title on track at Manchester City on Saturday.
A 2-1 defeat in Turkey in midweek has increased the pressure on their manager, Avram Grant, whose position at the club has once again been called into question.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is under no illusions that Chelsea need to win the Champions League to establish themselves as one of Europe's leading clubs, and Grant knows the scale of the club's ambitions means he has to deliver silverware soon or be out of a job.
With Manchester United five points clear at the top of the table, Chelsea's margin for error in the league is tiny and a slip-up against a City side struggling for form is unlikely to go down well in the boardroom.
Former Israel coach Grant fielded a near full-strength starting XI on Wednesday evening but conceded afterwards that he was disappointed by the result and that his players had been guilty of lapses in concentration.
One player who was partially omitted from the blame was Nicolas Anelka. The France international only played for the final five minutes as Grant opted to have Joe Cole, Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda in attack.
Such has been Grant's desire to accommodate both Anelka and Drogba in his 4-3-3 system that the former has been required to play out of position rather than his preferred role as a centre forward.
However the 29-year-old, who returns to another of his former clubs this weekend, insists he is just happy to be part of the Blues' squad.
He said: "Just like Real Madrid, Chelsea are a big club with a big squad and big players.
"I'm very new at the club, so I need to get used to my team-mates and learn the way we play. It's not difficult - when the manager asks me to play, I play, when he asks me to be on the bench, I try to help the team when I go on.
"It will be the same until the end of my contract. I'm just pleased to be here and playing for Chelsea and will try my best all the time.
"When Didier and I have the chance to play together we will do it the best we can, it will be good. But you have a manager who decides what to do and I think he knows what to do.
"For the moment he wants to play three forwards and me on the left or right, so I will do my best to play in that position."
While Chelsea will seek to keep their European campaign alive in next week's second leg against Fenerbahce at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City have not relinquished their own ambitions to be playing abroad next season.
Their manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, still harbours the belief they can secure a spot in the UEFA Cup.
He said: "It would be crazy if we gave up now because we still have the possibility of playing in Europe next season and we have to try to take it.
"We are not thinking about doing Manchester United a favour, we are thinking about doing ourselves a favour.
"It all depends on how we finish the last six games before we decide whether the season is a success. We have done some good things but we have had some unnecessary defeats as well.
"If we can finish sixth, seventh or eighth, that would be good. If we can get into Europe by one way or another that would be extremely good."
