Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri insists his side are still some way from closing the gap on elite Premiership pair Arsenal and Manchester United. Hernan Crespo's late goal gave Chelsea a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough and put them within striking distance of their two title rivals.
But Ranieri played down growing expectations about Chelsea's chances of landing the Premiership.
He said: "It's just the table. We aren't like Arsenal or Manchester United, but we're working to close the gap.
"Some people say to me it's very close, but I say no, no, because we aren't used to coping very well when something strange happens.
"For this reason, I say we must work. We aren't like them. We have a good spirit, a fighting spirit, but sometimes we must improve our patience and our tactics.
"We need time. We need to understand when, for example, Middlesbrough put us under pressure, we must be calm and close the space.
"If you watched the match at Anfield, Liverpool and Arsenal, in the last five minutes, Arsenal kept possession of the ball and slowed down the tempo and Liverpool could not do anything.
"We wanted to score the third goal, giving them a chance to go up to our end and draw. That's not right. You're winning 2-1, slow down the tempo, keep possession."
But he added: "I'm very pleased with the result It was a difficult match. The first half was fantastic for us. We played very well.
"The team showed good football and scored a goal, but in the second half after the goal, Middlesbrough deserved to draw and put us under pressure, and for us, it was very, very difficult to understand what happened.
Ranieri was impressed with the performance of Gaizka Mendieta, who turned in a virtuoso display for Middlesbrough.
He said: "Mendieta was fantastic. He played very, very well. In the second half, he put us under pressure and it was very, very difficult to stop him."
Chelsea acting chief executive Paul Smith, meanwhile, revealed Ranieri has the full support of owner Roman Abramovich.
"Roman has full confidence in Claudio. He is getting more and more interested in the mechanics of the team and he has briefing from Claudio on the tactics," Smith told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek.
"At the moment from Chelsea's perspective Claudio is certainly the number one man and he has the full confidence of everybody at the club."
MMIX
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The first half was fantastic for us - we played very well. 
