Blues European aspirations overshadowing domestic duties

Chelsea are in danger of letting their chairman's obsession with winning the Champions League interfere with their Premier League form – and in doing so may even scupper their chances of qualifying for next season's competition. Already, rather than being right up there with Arsenal and Manchester United, challenging for the title like they have been for the last five years, they are in a three-way battle with Manchester City and Tottenham and know that only two of them can claim top four league finishes when the league comes to a close on May 22nd.

Admittedly, in successfully advancing through to the last eight of the Champions League they have somewhat justified their minor dip in domestic form, but with the players, finance and infrastructure that Chelsea have at their disposal one would expect a quarter final berth and qualification for next season's competition to be the absolute minimum requirement from Carlo Ancelotti to remain in his job. Certainly that was the impression their club's representatives must have bestowed upon Fernando Torres when they wrestled his allegiance from Liverpool – but should they be pipped to the post by City and Spurs, then they could end up looking very foolish indeed. The Champions Leauge betting odds by no means make them favourites to win and qualify that way.

This of course, should not happen though – they currently sit three points clear of Harry Redknapp's outfit, and are still within touching distance of Mancini's side, and should they overtake them to finish third they would also be spared the relative humiliation of forcing their expensively assembled squad to qualify at the start of next season against a team of relative unknowns from Hungary or Slovenia. The Blues have more than enough quality to avoid such an outing though, and whilst the title now appears out of reach, should they lift the Champions League trophy and finish third in the Premier League, 2011 will be remembered at the Bridge as having been a very good year indeed.

Next up they face Man City in a real six-pointer – the winner of which will feel far more confident of their chances of finishing within the top four and the Manchester City betting suggests it could be a tough game.

Last time these two sides met, it was a 1-0 home win for Mancini's side at Eastlands but with Chelsea's new-look attack, a very different result looks to be on the cards.