Avram Grant may have felt almost as disappointed as Arsène Wenger last night as Manchester United overcame Arsenal to move six points clear of Chelsea. Still, Grant’s team have a game in hand and play at home to United this month, and the Chelsea first-team coach preserves the hope that Sir Alex Ferguson’s side will stumble near the finish line.

“Nobody’s a computer, pressure can affect everybody,” he said. “It can affect you positively, but even big players under pressure perform not like they usually do.”

The burden of expectation is on Chelsea, too, but it seems a bonus considering their early-season turmoil. “One of the staff said [yesterday], ‘We’ve come so far, we are so close, we don’t want to miss it,’ ” Grant said. “I said to the players, ‘It’s been a very difficult year, I don’t know if other clubs could do what we’re doing – the injuries to big players, the African Cup of Nations, all the problems we’ve had and we’re still winning games.’ And we have the opportunity to do very good things. When the players speak about it they know it’s a very big opportunity and we deserve it after what we’ve had this year.”

United have scored 100 goals this season, and Chelsea are also on the verge of a century. They seek their hundredth unbeaten domestic home match in a row tonight against Wigan Athletic. The sequence dates back to a league defeat by Arsenal in February 2004, and comprises 79 matches in the Premier League, 12 in the FA Cup and eight in the League Cup (including a defeat in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic).

However, the goalkeeping situation is cloudy. Carlo Cudicini’s hamstring injury could sideline him for the rest of the season. Grant reckons that the Italian will be out for three to five weeks but did not rule out Petr Cech returning this evening only eight days after facial surgery. “He’s improving, he’s training, wearing a mask,” Grant said. “For the moment it’s a risk.” Thursday’s game away to Everton may be more realistic.

Adriano Galliani, the AC Milan vice-president, plans to open talks with Chelsea about resigning Andriy Shevchenko. However, Grant said: “We want to keep the same squad for next year. I think he will stay.”

As for Grant’s future, Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, was noncommittal last week when asked if the Israeli would be in charge of the team next season, but Grant is unfazed. “I have told all my owners that if the club at any stage are not happy they can tell me and I will go,” he said.

Chelsea (possible; 4-4-2): H Hilário – J Belletti, R Carvalho, J Terry, A Cole – M Essien, J O Mikel, F Lampard, J Cole – N Anelka, S Kalou.

Wigan Athletic(possible; 4-4-2): C Kirkland – M Melchiot, P Scharner, E Boyce, K Kilbane – L A Valencia, M Brown, W Palacios, R Taylor – M Bent, E Heskey.

Referee: A Marriner.

Television: Live on Setanta Sports 1 from 7pm (kick-off 8pm).