Petr Cech has told his Chelsea team-mates to put the crucial match with Tottenham to the back of their minds as they battle to finish in the top four.
The game against Andre Villas-Boas’s side on May 8 is already being billed as a decider but Cech is worried such talk could provide an unwelcome distraction.
Before that, fourth-placed Chelsea take on Swansea on Sunday, just one point ahead of Spurs and trailing Arsenal by only a point themselves.
The keeper told Standard Sport: “There are still a lot of games in between now and then. Everybody knows it could be a head to head but we could go into that match six or seven points ahead of them. This is why it has been a fantastic season.
“The top-four fight is undecided and won’t be until the last game. For the neutral it will be exciting until the last day. We have a big game in every match we play. This is the way it goes and we can’t forget about Swansea. We have to take things step by step.”
Defender David Luiz, who is continuing to stake his claim as a potential long-term successor to John Terry as captain, says Chelsea have to win every Premier League game to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“We need to take three points in all the games,” he said. “Spurs is one key game for us, because [they are also directly fighting for a top-four spot]. But we need to play well in the other games, too.
“We need to keep focused for the future, particularly on Sunday against Swansea, because they have a very good team.
“You saw that in the semi-final of the Capital One Cup [when they beat Chelsea 2-0 over two legs].
“Of course we believe we will finish the season strongly.
“We have an opportunity for that. I want that and my team-mates want that as well.”
Chelsea’s match against Michael Laudrup’s side will also be significant as referee Mark Clattenburg will be in charge of his first game involving the Blues since he was cleared of racially abusing midfielder John Obi Mikel during the defeat to Manchester United last October.
