Graphic: Battle for Europe

Luiz Felipe Scolari demonstrated his supreme confidence that Chelsea will reach the Champions League final for a second successive season last night by instructing his employers to reserve rooms in the Cavalieri Hilton in Rome for the last week of May.

Scolari’s side need a win against Roma this evening to ensure qualification for the first knockout round, but the manager is already thinking ahead to next year, when the final will be held at the Olympic Stadium on May 27.

Chelsea’s hotel in the Roman hills, where rooms start at £776 a night, rising to £6,400 for the King’s Suite, is less than half a mile from the stadium and Scolari is hoping to return to make up for last season’s penalty shoot-out defeat by Manchester United in Moscow.

“I like this hotel,” Scolari said. “It’s beautiful. It’s a fantastic hotel. When we went for a walk today, there are flags, trees — a beautiful situation. It’s a great view. If the hotel accepts, we’ll book it for May.

“We need to arrive in the final. We’re playing very well, but we’ve not got into any final position yet. We need to get into more finals, win more finals. Then, after that, it might be possible to say we are better than last season.”

The statistics suggest that there has already been a considerable improvement because Chelsea are top of the Barclays Premier League and their Champions League group. Scolari joked yesterday that his side are “more beautiful” than the one coached by Avram Grant, his predecessor, before conceding that they had yet to prove themselves.

“Chelsea is one of the best ten teams in the world, but not the best,” he said. “There are other teams who also play very well. We’ve played some very good games. In one or two games, we haven’t played well and we’ve paid for this. Every day we’ve tried in training to make something more than before, because maybe in the future we’ll need that.

“Until May, it’s a long way. We need first to win tomorrow or get a minimum of one point. We need to get into the second phase. We are not here to show something for these people, we are here to beat Roma. We are not here to make a statement for May, only for tomorrow. But, if they give us a chance, sure, we’ll try to arrive in May in this stadium.”

For all the praise that has been lavished on Scolari for Chelsea’s attacking style this season, their defensive record is even more impressive, with only four goals conceded in 15 league and cup matches. Petr Cech kept his 100th clean sheet in 180 appearances for the club in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.

Scolari will make at least one change, with Wayne Bridge replacing Ashley Cole at left back — a calf injury will keep the defender out for up to ten days — but Nicolas Anelka will keep his place after scoring a hat-trick against Sunderland. Didier Drogba will start on the bench again.

“It’s very important for our team that they have confidence in our defence,” Scolari said. “We know that we have very good players in midfield and in attack. We know that if we don’t concede goals, we’ll have a chance for a draw, minimum. In this Champions League, we’ve won two games and drawn one 0-0 and when I have a very good defence, I have a very good attack.”