Thibaut Courtois Thinks Playing For A Draw Would Be Unwise For Chelsea

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois says the Blues have no aim in mind other than defeating Porto on Wednesday night.

A draw in the Stamford Bridge clash would be enough to guarantee the Blues a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

However, Courtois pointed out the dangers of adopting a cagey approach and added that a win would be a welcome fillip to a club in the midst of an unusually disappointing Premier League campaign.

“We will play to win,” he said at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference. “If you play just to draw, you never know what can happen in the last minute.

“Every footballer wants to win their games and it will be the same tomorrow. We want to give our fans a victory, because this season we’ve lost too many games at home and it shouldn’t be like that.

“All the players have to improve our level. We are a team but sometimes individually we haven’t been at our best. If everybody gets to their top level, we will start winning games.

“Sometimes in a season, you have months when you are at a higher level.

“You might have eight players at a top level and three a bit down but this season, maybe, it’s been the other way around and it’s more difficult, but we are still the same players from last season.”

The Blues won the Premier League in emphatic fashion last term but Courtois rubbished the idea that they have not been as committed this season.

And he was also adamant that the team retained their faith in Jose Mourinho, who is under pressure after Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Bournemouth left Chelsea 14th in the table.

“Who says we don’t have the same commitment?” asked Courtois.

“Results don’t say we are not committed to the manager. Sometimes we have been better than other teams and still lost. That doesn’t say anything about our commitment, results are just not there.

“We are still confident in the manager, we are one team, and we are trying to get out of it with him.

“It’s easy to say it’s only the manager but every player, every member of the technical staff, has to get better and then we will be near the top again. We have to keep working hard in training.

“Tomorrow we have to put in a good performance in front of our fans and win the game.

“Hopefully that will give us a boost ahead of our match against Leicester on Monday. That’s another important one and hopefully we can get on a winning streak.”

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