Nicolas Anelka insists shaky Chelsea can still successfully defend their title.
Carlo Ancelotti's side are four points behind leaders Manchester United, who also have a game in hand, with Wednesday night's 1-0 win over Bolton their first victory in seven games.
But Anelka says: "We've had a little difficulty recently, but we still have a lot games and it's going to be a very tough season - that's the way the league is now.
"If you drop points one day, it doesn't mean you will still be behind 15 games later because anything can happen each week - at the moment it's very open.
"When you have more big teams, you have more big games, so it's very tight all the way through.
"We've dropped points and sometimes football is like. We will see in the end and we have to be strong."
