Chelsea will need to extend
their lead further on top of the Premier
League prior to January if they are to win the title
this season.
Skipper John Terry knows the
Blues are travelling well at the moment and are enjoying their
five-point lead at the summit but is wary of main rivals
Arsenal and Manchester United bearing down on them when the
African Cup of Nations is on in January.
Chelsea will lose up to four
key players including Didier
Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel and Salomon
Kalou when the tournament kicks off in Angola on January 10 and
concludes 21 days later and Terry hopes the Blues can push further
ahead of the pack before then.
"Arsenal are looking good at
the moment. They are free-flowing and scoring goals like they
always do but when they pick up injuries they tend to miss some key
players,” Terry said.
"Manchester United have some
tough games coming up as well. It's important before we lose the
African players in January that we build a big cushion.
"The message from this defeat will be for United to kick on.
They certainly won't give up. We were in their position last year
and the year before that and there was no way we were going to give
up.
"They've had a few injuries in their squad and missed a few key
players, but once everyone is fit and well they'll be raring to go
and will push us and Arsenal to
the end."