Petr Cech knows what it takes to win league titles and is prepared to fight all the way to ensure the Blues get back to the top.Cech has won three Premier League titles since signing from French club Rennes in 2004 and is determined to add to the total.Following the 3-2 Community Shield defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, Cech is sanguine about recent poor pre-season results but bullish about the season ahead which starts at Wigan on Sunday.
"If you have to lose a trophy you would rather choose this one [Community Shield] than one of the big ones at the end of the season," said the Czech international."We wanted to win - and in the first half we showed that; it was a good even game and then we scored on the break and I thought we were going to be favourites for the rest of the game. But unfortunately the red card came right before half-time and I think City did well in the second half."That red card went to right-back Branislav Ivanovic, and Cech understood what happened but little sympathy for the Serbian's dismissal."Branislav was unlucky because his foot went high. You can see there was no intention of hurting a player but unfortunately the motion of his movement took the leg out very high and that's what the referee said was a sending off and there's nothing to argue with."
Cech, with 254 games for Chelsea under his belt is one of the main personalities in a squad brimming to the rim with them, and is focused on the upcoming league campaign.
"We want to win the Premier League for sure," he added."We want to have a much better campaign than last season and we want to defend the trophies we won last season. "On Sunday, we didn't win the game but we can take positives from it and next week when we play Wigan, that's where the season starts and I think we'll be prepared. "When it was 11 v 11 we competed very well against the title holders so I think we can do well. "We have a good squad and we have good numbers. If we have injuries we have people to come in. The season is a long way, a very long way, but we are ready. We know we need to get better."
With no major striker signed in the summer to replace Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, Cech remains optimistic that Chelsea can cope without the talismanic Ivory Coast hit man and countryman Kalou and he expects the current players to fight all the way.
"We will play in a slightly different way but we still want to keep our way of playing which has been very successful over the last eight years. "You know, you have to change players because they are ageing. It's sad to see players leave the club, especially someone like Didier who was a legend at the club. But that's the way it is. We have one or two new players with a lot of hunger and they are about to show they want to win things with us as well.
"People want to play nice football but they also want to win games, that's for sure. "If we can be attractive that's great, if you can't then you have to win dirty.
"We have always known how to win - when we won the double we scored the most goals ever to win the league so we were very entertaining. But there were still games when the opponent is very tough and have a great game, so you have to adapt and win the game anyway you can. The biggest issue we had last season was that maybe we were playing well and passing the ball well but we didn't win games. That's what led to the problems we had in the league."
Chelsea finished 25 points behind Champions Manchester City last campaign and a repeat of that is unacceptable for Cech.
"We are a changing team but still the targets are the same - we want to win as many trophies as possible. If you don't win you have to be competitive. This is the aim at the start. I think we are ready for the challenge and it's only up to us how we are going to cope with it."
Skipper John Terry faced a torrent of abuse from the City supporters at Villa Park on Sunday but Cech believes JT will take it all in his stride.
"He's a strong player. He knows that this will go on every time he plays away from home."I don't think he was surprised on Sunday [by the City fans' verbal abuse] and I don't think it will affect him. All I need from him is to be JT and to play well. If he does that everybody will be happy."
think Hazard had a very good game; he had to go off in the second half because of the shuffling of the team but he