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Roberto Di Matteo targets title challenge

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo challenges his players to close last season's 25-point gap on English champions Manchester City.

Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo is setting his sights on a Premier League title challenge in the coming season.

Di Matteo took caretaker charge of the Blues on March 4 and, within 11 weeks of his temporary appointment, the club went on to win both the FA Cup and the Champions League.

The 42-year-old Italian was given the manager's job on permanent basis last month and he is now hoping to make vast improvements on last season's fifth-place league finish.

"Those weeks were the craziest and most amazing of my life," said Di Matteo. "We were fighting for fourth place, the FA Cup and the Champions League. We had to switch from one competition to another and the pressure was so intense. It was just crazy.

"Manchester City have raised the bar. That is our challenge, to make up the 25-point gap in the league.

"They are doing what Chelsea did in 2004, in terms of how they have come on to the scene, signed a lot of players and tried to build a foundation. That's the challenge."

Chelsea begin their Premier League campaign with a trip to Wigan Athletic on Sunday August 19.

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RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd3537253497-6316


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