John Terry and Michael Ballack both feel yesterday's victory will keep the pressure high on Manchester United as we head towards the last game of the season.

After a rocky first half against Newcastle, the Blues responded with two goals in the second half, and the captain was keen to express his satisfaction with his side.

'It was a bit slow at times, too many touches on the ball in the first half and a bit of a rollicking at half time,' said Terry.

'But we came here to keep the pressure on Man United and I have said all along that all we can do is our job and the players did a great professional job against Newcastle.'

Ballack, who scored Chelsea's first goal with a header into the bottom corner, agreed with his skipper as he looked back on the game.

'It is always good if you can score in the big moments and the important games,' said the German international.

'We didn't play well from the first minute, but we knew we had to win and we had 90 minutes so we just controlled the game.

'We had a very good chance to score [in the first half] but we couldn't, then in the second half we made more effort, we tried more for the victory and we had a very good second half,' he added.

The game finished goalless for Newcastle, despite some good chances in the game, the closest of which came when Terry was forced to clear a Michael Owen shot off the line, something the Chelsea defender was proud of.

'I always get behind Pete, Ashley Cole does it as well and it's just instinct, something that is instilled in me,' explained Terry.

'But thankfully I cleared it off the line, kept a clean sheet and the boys did the business going forward.'

Newcastle's hopes of a come-back were dashed when Florent Malouda fed off a well placed through-ball from fresh-on Frank Lampard after a clever build-up down the centre of the field.

Malouda also spoke of the importance of taking three points from a tough match.

'It was very difficult game because the first half Newcastle could have scored and we had to stay strong and the second half we came on the pitch to win,' said Malouda.

'Our original target was to win this game and keep the pressure on Man United.

'So we had to remember the target, to keep the faith and hope on the last game.

'That is what we did very well in the second half but we know that Man United has to lose or draw to let us be champions,' explained the number 15.

Aware that everything now rests on Manchester United's result against Wigan, both Terry and Ballack remain optimistic the title could still be ours.

'They [Wigan] are on a great run at the minute,' said Terry.

'They came to the Bridge and put in a very good performance and since then they have picked up.

'I think they will do the Barclays Premier League justice and they will go out there wanting to beat Man United, and hopefully they will.

'We have worked our socks off all year so we will be disappointed if they don't, we saw teams putting out full strengths sides on Sunday and really going for it even though some of those teams have nothing to play for.

'So we are really going to go for it. We still have a tough game at home to Bolton but if we pick up the three points then we have a very good chance,' he added.

'We hope that Wigan is proud enough to give everything in the last game,' said Ballack.

'We will show that we are a very strong team, we are in good shape now and we look good, so we will see next week.'


John Terry, Michael Ballack or Florent Malouda's new home kit for the 08/09 season can all be pre-ordered from the Online Megastore, so you can wear it on launch day on May 8th.