Antonio Conte has said that Chelsea have not yet given up hope of ousting Tottenham Hotspur to finish fourth in the Premier League this season.
The Blues have a chance to reduce the gap on the side directly above them to five points if they win their game in hand at Burnley on Thursday evening.
Conte admits that it will be difficult to overhaul Spurs with just four games to play after tomorrow night, but he is not giving up hope of finishing the campaign on a high.
"We have to try and finish this season in the best possible way," he told reporters at his pre-match presser. "It is not right to look at the future because we are struggling. We need to finish in the best possible position in the league and reach the final of the FA Cup.
"We have to try until the end to reach this target [of a top-four finish]. If we want to be realistic, with five games to go, it is not simple to reduce the gap. But we must have the will to fight, the desire to take this target.
"We have an important game against Burnley, a really strong team. They are having a fantastic season and it won't be easy to get three points. We have to try and do our best and to try and avoid what happened in the first 60 minutes against Southampton."
Chelsea recovered from two goals down to beat Southampton 3-2 last time out and face the same opponents in Sunday's FA Cup semi-finals.
Daniel Lewis
