Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas admits title bid is 'difficult'

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted that his side are all but out of the Premier League title race.

Following the 1-1 draw with Fulham at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, the Blues lie fourth in the table, 11 points behind both Manchester City and Manchester United.

Villas-Boas said: "With City and United continuing to get the points they are getting, it'll be difficult.

"Maybe the Premier League is over for us at the moment."

Juan Mata gave Chelsea the lead in the west London derby, only for Clint Dempsey to earn the Cottagers a point.

Former Porto boss Villas-Boas, who took charge of the Blues in June, continued: "There's no big drama in terms of how we look at things. But you have to be sufficiently real.

"That is the perspective we have to make at the moment. It's difficult, but it's not impossible. You cannot say that.

"But we have to focus on our position at the moment and make a real assessment.

"We'd targeted the December fixtures as an ideal situation to find out what would happen in the Premier League. We continue to do that."

Villas-Boas also dismissed talk he will have a budget of £140m to spend in the January and denied that he will be using the transfer window to overhaul his squad.

"The story is not true," said the Portuguese. "Whatever business we do, we will do it properly and quietly but we won't do a lot and not with those amounts.

Villas-Boas has already declared his interest in signing Bolton defender Gary Cahill to bolster his squad.

Striker Nicolas Anelka has agreed to join Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua and transfer-listed Brazilian centre-half Alex is poised to leave the club, but the Chelsea boss insisted there will not be drastic changes at Stamford Bridge.

"That [£140m] is an outstanding amount of money but it makes no sense at all," Villas-Boas added.