Jose Mourinho claims Chelsea can still win all four trophies this season, writes John Cross in Kiev.
The out-of-form Blues are languishing in the lower half of the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Manchester City.
They face Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday night having lost their last game in the Champions League at Porto and have still got both domestic cups in front of them.
But, despite Chelsea’s turbulent start to the campaign, Mourinho believes the club’s whole season has turned on a win over struggling Aston Villa last Saturday.
In pictures - Chelsea 2-0 Villa
He said: “We can win all four, we can lose all four. Everything is open. We are in October. Everything is open.
“I think to win all four is something really amazingly difficult for everyone, even if you say Man City or Man United – because they are at this moment top of the league – even for them it would be very difficult to win all four.
"In England it’s very difficult.
“Confidence is fundamental. We need to keep the tactical awareness, the tactical discipline. The spirit. The effort.
“The concentration, because concentration is fundamental. And step by step bring with good results the confidence levels up.
"And confidence levels are coming with results.”
It was a typically bullish response from Mourinho and he looked a manager transformed by a solitary win. But it would also be dangerous to write off a team which won the title at a canter in May.
Despite everything that has gone on this season - Mourinho’s meltdowns, a vote of confidence for the manager and the fall-out over sacking Eva Caneiro - Chelsea are just two wins off the top four.
And that gives Mourinho confidence that Chelsea are still in the title and he also warned it would be a “big risk” if they prioritised the Champions League because of the faltering defence of their title campaign.
“You know the difference between challenging for the title and for the top four is not so big,” said Mourinho.
“It’s not so big. It’s not so big. I don’t know if there is a margin for error.
“You have the top four of last season, you have Liverpool, you have Tottenham, you have a brilliant West Ham, you have sometimes a surprise like Swansea or Southampton.
“When you prioritise in this league you have a big risk, which is the risk of not winning the Champions League and (not) finishing top four and not playing Champions League the next season.
“So we cannot prioritise in this league. We have to go all the way and make sure we finish top four.”
It was a difficult game against Aston Villa on Saturday as Chelsea laboured and still look a team short of confidence and belief.
Mourinho accepts it will not be easy against Dynamo Kiev - who played a day earlier than Chelsea but suggested he will go to Ukraine with a determination not to lose.
Mourinho added: “When you play Tuesday, the fact one team played Saturday and the other one played Friday, we’re already losing 24 hours of an important recovery.
“We have to compensate that with tactical understanding of what we have to do, have a real tactical plan to compensate that.
“And the players to have, like they showed today, a fantastic spirit to try to get the result, because we are not on the limit situation in the Champions League, far from it.
“Even if we lose this match we still have nine points to play and to make a possible 12. In these two matches against Dynamo if we can have four points, the situation is much more comfortable.”