Malouda: We deserve more credit

Published Sep. 19, 2010 9:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Malouda's double helped the free-scoring Blues move four points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Carlo Ancelotti's team have made a 100% start to their title defence against modest opposition and arguably face their biggest test against Manchester City next week. "We're not focused on Manchester City," said Malouda. "We have to play all the teams. People are thinking about Manchester City because they are not giving us credit for what we've done until now. "But we have to stay focused. We know, as we did last year, we can achieve great performances against big teams, it's not a problem for us. We have a lot of games to come and we play to win every game." Chelsea destroyed Ian Holloway's side with four first-half goals - Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba got the others - but Malouda believes the win could so easily have been more emphatic. "We can be more efficient," he told Sky Sports One. "It was not easy at the beginning but it's a real pleasure when we play like that." Chelsea's acting captain Drogba agreed his side ought to have been more clinical. "In the second half we had so many chances but there was a lack of concentration and a few bad decisions on the last pass - that's something we have to think about." Ancelotti defended his team over the inability to add to their goal tally in the second half but admitted the big tests are to come and he hopes to have Frank Lampard and John Terry back for Saturday's visit to Manchester City. "I think Blackpool made some opportunities to score and we did also but it's difficult to maintain concentration when you are 4-0 up," he said. "We are playing well but there will be difficult games to come and we have to be ready. "We wanted to start like last year and we are doing. Now we have to look forward. Last year we lost both games against Manchester City and we want to do better this year." Blackpool boss Ian Holloway claimed his team are "light years" away from Chelsea. "We're all very proud people and I thought we would have given them a much better game than that," he said. "I'm bitterly disappointed. I thought we were absolutely useless first half. They showed a champion's mentality from the first corner and all our game plan went out of the window after about a first minute. "We have got to think about going forward because, if we try and defend anything, we're not good enough at this level at this moment collectively. "But the good news is we don't play a team of this quality every week. I think Arsenal and Chelsea are light years ahead of us but we expected that."