Ancelotti urges Chelsea to play from the heart

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has said that Sunday's Chelsea Vs Manchester United Premier League title showdown at Old Trafford will be won not by formations and tactics, but by desire and character.

Ancelotti has been schooled in the fine old Italian tradition of detailed systems and thorough organisation, but faced with a game that will go a long way to deciding the fate of this most unpredictable of seasons, he metaphorically tore up the tactics manual and implored his defending champions to play from the heart.

The Independent quoted him, as saying: "I want to say one thing. The line-up will not be what decides this game. This game will be decided through the courage of the players, the personality, the character. We don't need to be worried, afraid about this. We have to play at our best. With courage and personality; 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 is not important."

"The players are motivated themselves. They don't have a problem with motivation. The problem is the fear. Being afraid, to lose energy by being too afraid," he said.

Ancelotti's reborn side has managed to slash the gap between it and Manchester United from 15 points to just three, and victory over United tomorrow would put Chelsea top on goal difference, with two games remaining.

The momentum is with them, even though Chelsea needed the fortuitous intervention of the match officials to complete a 2-1 victory over Tottenham last Saturday.

Manchester United's capitulation to Arsenal the following day has thrown the race wide open, and raised suggestions that Sir Alex Ferguson's side are in danger of a collective choke.

Ancelotti, like Ferguson, has seen it happen before. Ferguson's United team had a 13-point lead over Arsenal which was overhauled in 1998; two years later Sven Goran Eriksson's Lazio clawed back the nine-point lead held by Ancelotti's Juventus to win the Scudetto on the last day of the season.

Ancelotti accepted that United remain favourites to win the league, but claimed Chelsea have the mental edge going into tomorrow's game, as United have to raise their game again. (ANI)