
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."