Chelsea skipper John Terry is targeting the
Premier League summit for Christmas but
acknowledges his side must improve if they are
to win away at Arsenal next week and dislodge
the current leaders.
Chelsea claimed a narrow 2-1 over Crystal
Palace on Saturday to cut the gap on Arsenal to
two points after the north Londoners suffered a
6-3 thrashing at Manchester City in the day's
early kick off.
Chelsea and Terry head to the Emirates next
Monday for the key London derby hoping to
inflict a third straight defeat on Arsenal, who
looked jaded in Manchester on Saturday after a
midweek loss to Napoli in the Champions
League.
"We've got an opportunity to go away to Arsenal
next week and go top of the league," Terry told
Chelsea TV on Sunday.
"They got a bit of a thumping, but they're a
really good side and really good at home as
well.
"It's going to be tough, but I think the
motivation for us is to go there and beat them
and go top of the league, which, just before
Christmas, is a really good place to be."
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was again
critical of his side after they spurned a number
of opportunities at home to a relegation-
threatened Palace at Stamford Bridge on
Saturday.
That followed their failure to turn first half
dominance into three points at Stoke City last
week, where they lost 3-2.
Poor defending was also cited in the 4-3 victory
over bottom side Sunderland prior to the Stoke
defeat but Terry was not concerned.
"We're clearly not firing on all cylinders at the
moment," the 33-year-old said.
"I think we've got another gear to go, which is
still encouraging, being the position we are at
the minute.
"So we're not too disappointed, we just know as
a group we can get better."
VULNERABLE ARSENAL
Arsenal's consistency had allowed them to open
up a five-point lead at the top as Chelsea,
Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City
and Tottenham Hotspur suffered some surprise
defeats.
But the nature of their 6-3 defeat against City
showed defensive vulnerability and a lack of
squad depth leaving questions about their title
chances ahead of the visit of Chelsea, who beat
them twice in the league last season.
Chelsea host Swansea City and then Liverpool
after Christmas before away trips to
Southampton and Hull City then a big home
match against struggling champions United.
Terry believed going on a good run was crucial.
"It's not only us who have suffered defeats and
draws against teams where you would expect us
to win," the former England captain said.
"Hopefully we can knock that out of our system
sooner rather than later while other teams are
still struggling.
"Manchester United are still struggling, Cardiff
beat Man City, there's been all sorts of results
that have been big upsets."
Mourinho said he planned to rest Terry, if
possible, for Tuesday's League Cup quarterfinal
away at Sunderland after they beat Arsenal at
the Emirates in the previous round.
The Portuguese played down Chelsea's trophy
chances this season after the Palace win,
concerned at the lack of a killer 'selfish' striker
but goalkeeper Petr Cech disagreed.
"It's great to be in the position we're in. We
topped the group in the Champions League,
we're two points off the Premier League leaders
and we can be in the semifinal of a domestic
cup if we win on Tuesday," he said.
"All of this, and we know that we haven't
reached our peak, so it's great."
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