Terry keen to increase lead

Terry: Looking to push on

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John Terry has insisted that Chelsea will not settle for a five-point gap at the top of the Premier League.

The Blues would have slipped off the summit had they lost at home to Manchester United on Sunday but they battled to a 1-0 victory thanks to Terry's second-half winner.

The result opened up a considerable cushion but Terry does not want complacency to creep in and has fired a warning to Chelsea's title rivals.

"We're not going to settle for a five-point gap, we want to increase that lead," said the defender.

"It's encouraging that we won both our titles leading from the front. That's in the back of our minds and it could be key for us. Fingers crossed we can do the same again.

"We have already won more games against the other teams in the 'Big Four' than we did last season and that gives us confidence. It's a good psychological lift for us because it's where we lost it last year."

Important

United will expect to still be in the hunt for top spot come next May, while Arsenal have also made an impressive start to the campaign, but Terry is confident Chelsea will prove too strong.

He said: "Arsenal are looking good at the moment. They are free-flowing and scoring goals like they always do but when they pick up injuries they tend to miss some key players.

"Manchester United have some tough games coming up as well. It's important before we lose the African players in January that we build a big cushion.

"The message from this defeat will be for United to kick on. They certainly won't give up. We were in their position last year and the year before that and there was no way we were going to give up.

"They've had a few injuries in their squad and missed a few key players, but once everyone is fit and well they'll be raring to go and will push us and Arsenal to the end."