Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari sets Champions League final target

It is a statement of Chelsea's endless extravagance, even at a time when Roman Abramovich is supposed to be constrained by the credit crisis, that they are preparing for tonight's Group A match in the Cavalieri Hotel, arguably Rome's finest.

But it is a reflection of their formidable resolve that they intend to book the same hotel for the penultimate week of May, when the Eternal City stages an even more auspicious occasion: the Champions League final.

Rooms at the Cavalieri start at £770 a night, with suites closer to £5,000, but such details will appear mere fripperies if Chelsea realise their avowed ambition to avenge last season's defeat in the grandest game.

Until then Luiz Felipe Scolari is suspending all judgment upon his team, described yesterday by Roma manager Luciano Spalletti as the best in the world. Talk of attacking élan or defensive muscle, quite justified based on Chelsea's masterful recent performances, means nothing to him unless they earn their place in the final reckoning.

"We need to arrive in the final," said Scolari, asked to compare his side to the model fashioned by his less exalted predecessor, Avram Grant, who took Chelsea to Moscow. "We are playing very well, but we have not got into any final position before now.

"We need to get into more finals, win more finals. Then, after that, it might be possible to say we are better. But, until now, no."

For a man normally so fond of using superlatives in his attractively zany English, Scolari was dismissive of any mention of Chelsea being, or becoming, "the best". They were not, he explained, so exclusive: "I am not the man that says: 'I am the best.' Or that my team is the best.

"I never say things like that. I say that there are 10 'best', or maybe 20 or 30. There are three or four, minimum, in England – and in Spain, Italy, Brazil. Maybe it's 50. Chelsea is one of these 50."

Barring any dramatic wobble, Chelsea will take a long stride towards the knockout stage of the Champions League by securing only a draw at the Olympic Stadium. The pursuit of that target will be spearheaded by Nicolas Anelka after Scolari confirmed that fellow striker Didier Drogba was not ready to contest a full game, having injured a knee in the goalless draw at CFR Cluj a month ago.

But the Frenchman is likely to have the full confidence of his manager after recording a hat-trick against Sunderland last Saturday – the most emphatic signal that his temperament has improved under Scolari.

But the satisfaction of Anelka's resurgence remains tempered by long-term injuries to Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho, which prevent Scolari from seeing his Chelsea side as anything more than a work in progress.

Still smarting from a rare league defeat, to Liverpool, the Brazilian said: "We have played some very good games, but we didn't play well in one or two and paid the price.

"I am not happy because I don't have all the players at my disposal. Maybe in the future I will have more options because we will have Ballack, Essien, Carvalho and Ashley Cole back, and that will be good for me.

When I have these players, it is better for me because I will work to decide who will play and who won't. That is my job as a coach. I need to explain to them who is playing or not playing. This is a team and I am part of that team. Every day we try to improve."

Despite Chelsea's flourishes up front, their most spectacular improvement has been in defence and this should ensure they prevail against Roma tonight. Only in two of the games of which Scolari has taken charge have they not scored.

As he put it: "When I have a very good defence, I have a very good attack."