Mata eyes success on three fronts
Juan Mata hopes Chelsea can savour success on three fronts at the end of a tumultuous season.
The
Blues face Sunderland in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday, where
much of the attention will be on Paolo Di Canio's debut as Sunderland
manager and their bid for survival.
The impact of relegation
would be marked on the Black Cats, who replaced Martin O'Neill with Di
Canio, but the consequences if Chelsea miss out on a top-four place and
Champions League qualification are unthinkable for those at Stamford
Bridge.
Rafael Benitez was appointed interim boss after Roberto
Di Matteo's side became the first holders to exit the Champions League
at the group stages.
Benitez has steered the Blues into the FA
Cup semi-finals and a commanding Europa League quarter-final first-leg
lead in the space of four days and captain John Terry has urged the
Spaniard to turn his focus to the Premier League.
Mata is greedy for the Blues to achieve all three targets.
He
said: "Our objective for the season is to win these two titles and to
get into the Champions League. That is very important. We still have a
lot to play for this year.
"Winning a title this year could be
very important, but Chelsea is a club that deserves to be in the
Champions League every year and obviously it is our primary objective
every season to be in the top four.
"The ideal thing would be to do the little double and get into the Champions League.
"Why
can't we do that? We know it is difficult. We are still alive in the
Europa League (after beating Rubin Kazan 3-1 on Thursday night), we are
in the semis of the FA Cup and in the league we are in a Champions
League position. We can do it, and we believe we can do it."
Chelsea striker Demba Ba is set to return up front in place of Fernando Torres.
Ba,
scorer of Monday's FA Cup winner against Manchester United, was
cup-tied for Thursday night's Europa League triumph, when Torres scored
twice, but is poised to be restored as Rafael Benitez rotates his squad
for the Blues' fourth match in nine days.
Ashley Cole (hamstring)
and his fellow England defender Gary Cahill (knee) remain out alongside
long-term absentee Oriol Romeu (knee).
Sunderland winger Adam Johnson has backed Di Canio to unlock a fresh belief in the relegation-threatened club.
The
Black Cats are currently only one point clear of the drop zone with
seven games remaining, including tough fixtures against rivals Newcastle
at St James' Park, Everton at the Stadium of Light and a difficult
encounter against Tottenham on the last day of the season.
However,
Johnson, who has struggled to recapture his best form this season,
believes the former Swindon manager could be the perfect tonic to
Sunderland's on-field problems after their continued poor form has seen
them winless in their last eight games.
"He's a confident manager and wants to make his players feel like they're the best players in the world," Johnson told safc.com.
"I think he's going to get the best out of the lads. He demands your best and we will have to work hard.
"When
players are full of confidence they're going to play well, so hopefully
we can take that into Sunday because it's a tough game and a big game."
Di Canio has injury doubts over midfielder David Vaughan (groin) and defender Carlos Cuellar (ankle).
Captain
Lee Cattermole (knee surgery) and striker Steven Fletcher (ankle
ligaments) will both miss the rest of the season but there is some hope
for long-term absentee Wes Brown (knee), who is continuing to train
without suffering a relapse.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG