EPL ~ Blackburn 0 - 1 Chelsea ; AVB: Rovers made us suffer
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Cech hits out at Chelsea blunders
BATTLE OF THE BELG ... Cech (left) and Chelsea's defenders look stunned after handing Belgians Genk a levellerSaturday, 5 November 2011
Blackburn v Chelsea 11:00 mio : 105
PETR CECH fears Chelsea's trophy chances are being killed by a string of basic errors.
And he warns that they cannot afford to fall any further behind runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City after failing to close the gap on Manchester United last season.
Chelsea are already nine points behind Roberto Mancini's pace-setters following back-to-back defeats by QPR and Arsenal.
Keeper Cech has not kept a Premier League clean sheet since the opening day of the season at Stoke and says there can be no margin for error away to struggling Blackburn on Saturday.
The big Czech Republic star said: "At the moment we are getting punished almost every time we make a mistake — and we have been making too many mistakes.
"If you keep giving good opportunities to the opposition then, of course, they will score goals.
"We keep coming back to the same problem. We are creating chances but we're not killing the game off and it comes back and explodes in our face.
"It is frustrating for everyone because we're going through a period where we are playing well and having a lot of possession, but it's just not happening for us. That is difficult to accept.
"The sooner we are over this period, the better because we cannot afford to drop many more points in the Premier League.
"Obviously there is still a long way to go, but Manchester City have made a brilliant start and we cannot allow them to have too much of an advantage.
"That's what happened to us last year when Manchester United opened up a big lead and although we managed to close things later in the season we could never quite catch them.
"We have to start cutting back that advantage and put the leaders under more pressure, so the game at Blackburn on Saturday could be a turning point for us.
"We have had two results that we didn't wish for — a 5-3 defeat by Arsenal and then a 1-1 draw in the Champions League in Genk.
"But the best way to forget about this is to start winning games again."
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Morten Gamst Pedersen issues Chelsea warning
FIGHTING TALK ... Morten Gamst PedersenMORTEN GAMST PEDERSEN has warned Chelsea they are in for a rough ride this weekend.
The Blackburn midfielder is relishing tomorrow's clash at Ewood Park, where boss Steve Kean is likely to face more dissent from the home faithful.
Pedersen has brushed off those problems, claiming his team-mates are tough to beat at home.
Results so far this season prove otherwise, with Rovers having already lost four Premier League games at Ewood.
But Pedersen, 29, said: "It will be an interesting game. We will be a tough team to beat at home.
"We beat Arsenal, we beat Newcastle in the Carling Cup and had a good game against Tottenham.
"Chelsea know it is going to be a tough game. The most important thing for us is to get the points."
Asked about the potential fan action against unpopular boss Kean, Pedersen added: "There are things you must put to one side.
"The players, the staff, have to go in one direction and that's to win football games.
"We've been unlucky and sometimes in football the luck has to turn.
"We can improve in the Chelsea game — we've done well against big teams.
"Everybody can see we are working hard and you have to continue that.
"We will try to keep a clean sheet and score goals."
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AVB: Rovers made us suffer
WHERE THERE'S A VILL ... Andre Villas-Boas shows his players the way at Ewood ParkANDRE VILLAS-BOAS admitted Chelsea's derby hangover continued at Blackburn.
The Blues were left stunned by last week's 5-3 home defeat to Arsenal.
And struggling Rovers made the Londoners sweat before Frank Lampard's header gave Chelsea their first win in three Premier League games.
Blues boss Villas-Boas said: "We are very happy because we needed this stimulus of a win before the international break to make sure everybody goes into the break with a better feeling.
"The clean sheet was important. It is always important to win the game, no matter what are the conditions.
"We had to suffer a little bit but we managed to hold on to a clean sheet.
Chelsea keeper Petr Cech required seven minutes of treatment on a suspected broken nose after a clash with Yakubu early in the first half.
Cech, who fractured his skull in a collision with Reading's Stephen Hunt in 2006, carried on in goal and Villas-Boas hailed his bravery.
He said: "He was in some difficulty but Petr is very prone to these kinds of incidents — he has had collisions with his head, concussion and now a broken nose.
"He gave us good signs straight away and we asked him at half-time did he want to continue.
"It shows the commitment and bravery of this player who has suffered a lot with this type of injury."