SCOLARI: NO PRESSURE

Luiz Felipe Scolari is treating tomorrow's Champions League tie against CFR Cluj just as he would any other, despite the need to win.

The manager was speaking ahead of our crucial Group A game at Stamford Bridge tomorrow night, where a win will guarantee our progression to the knockout stages for a sixth consecutive season.

Our opponents have already been eliminated from European competition - two defeats against Bordeaux mean that a win for them tomorrow night would mean they are still bottom of the group, but they can eliminate us with a victory, as long as Bordeaux better our result.

'It is one more game. It's important for our qualification for the next phase, but it is the same as other games. Three points and we need to win because if we win the game we are in the second leg,' Scolari said.

'We are thinking about the second leg, then first position, then 12 points, and now maximum 11 because we lost against Roma and if we win we arrive in one situation that is the next level. It's not the most important game in the season, it's one more game.

'When we play outside [away] I put in my schedule one point, every game, because if we need to win at Stamford Bridge, three points, outside one point. If my team win four points from every club we play we arrive in first position.'

The Brazilian has considered the prospect of missing out on qualification, and it does not faze him.

'If we lose the game, maybe we are out. It is possible, I feel if I lose more and am out of the Champions League I will not feel [good]. This is the life, no more than this, this is football.'

Back at the beginning of October, we played out a goalless draw that will most likely be remembered as the game in which Didier Drogba picked up a knee injury that kept him on the sidelines for a month. The Ivorian forward is in the squad for tomorrow night's match, and has now completed his three-match domestic suspension.

There have been suggestions that Scolari may pair the 30-year-old withNicolas Anelka in a bid for goals.

'When I have time to train more with these two players and have time to put them together and have confidence for my system with two strikers, I put in two strikers,' he said, hinting that we may see them together in the future.

Drogba's availability is a welcome fillip given Frank Lampard's absence, while Florent Malouda again missed training today ahead of the match.

The winger joins Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien on a list of high-profile absentees, while Joe Cole could be involved tomorrow. Scolari rejected claims that he is paying the price for players playing while injured under other managers.

'It is a normal life for the players because some players here they arrived three or four years ago and played 60 games, national team, in Chelsea, and little injuries start. After three months, four months, a year, two years, three years it is not the same. It is a big injury and arrives in that time because all players want to play, sometimes with a little injury,' he began.

'After a year or two because they play with a little injury it is bigger. It is that time now for me, maybe three, four, five players, because they want to play, now I say "Look if you are not in good condition, don't play because I don't want a player in bad condition to play the game". After 10 or 20 years, these players will have injuries or problems and I am the man that made this, I don't want this. This is my philosophy.'

Finally, stories in today's newspapers have indicated that Scolari is beginning to feel pressure in the manager's seat at Stamford Bridge. He laughs at the suggestion.

'You know how many people live in Brazil? 180 million, and I was coach there. You think here is pressure? Here is zero for pressure. Pressure was coach of the Brazil national team because all the people in Brazil are coach,' he joked.