Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech feels they've kicked off 2012 in ideal fashion.

Cech believes there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic looking ahead.

"It's very positive, particularly after the last home games in 2011 where we drew with Fulham and lost to Aston Villa, which was a bit of a kick in the teeth for us," he told chelseafc.com.

"We started the New Year and have had three important wins; we won at Wolves and now we've had two clean sheets in a row against Portsmouth and Sunderland.

"Our only chance to get back into the race is when those teams above us drop points, we have to make sure we are ready to capitalise."