There is not much time to linger on the disappointment of crashing out of the F.A. Cup semifinals for Chelsea.
Just three days after losing their grip on the F.A. Cup, the Blues will have to return their focus to the English Premier League, starting with a walk across to Craven Cottage to take on their West London rivals Fulham.
The race for the top four could not be any closer at the moment, with Arsenal stealing a march on their rivals following their win against Norwich City at the weekend. The Gunners are currently in third on 59 points, one ahead of Chelsea, who have a game in hand, and Tottenham.
A lot will depend on how Arsenal fare against Everton in their Premier League match Tuesday, with the Toffees also very much in with a chance, with both Chelsea and Tottenham just three points ahead of David Moyes' men.
Chelsea have been in decent form of late, even if they might have lost to Manchester City on Sunday. Rafa Benitez has had his hands full trying to keep his squad fresh, with the Europa League also to contend with.
The Blues looked a little jaded on occasion in the game against City and with the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry getting a rest at the weekend there will be a little more freshness to the team come Wednesday. Chelsea, though, will again have to do without defensive duo Gary Cahill and Ashley Cole.
Fulham, who will most likely be without Ashkan Dejagah and Steve Sidwell, with Damien Duff doubtful, reached that 40-point mark with a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa Saturday, and with the side currently in tenth place, Martin Jol will want his team to continue to push forward and catch up with the likes of Swansea City and West Bromwich Albion.
"The last couple of weeks we've been sitting on 39 points and people have been saying that we're safe," Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said. "But we knew that, mathematically, we weren't safe, and we're still not mathematically safe so it's always positive, from a psychological point of view, to get to 40 points, and we'll kick on from there.
"We've got one more game than most teams as we're playing Chelsea on Wednesday. So we've got six games remaining and the target will be to try and get to that point where we are mathematically safe and then we'll try and finish as high as possible in the table.
"There are points available and it's good from a psychological point of view and it's good for momentum for next season if we can prove to people that Fulham deserve to be in the top half of the table."
Expected lineups: Fulham: Schwarzer; Riether, Senderos, Hangeland, Riise; Frimpong, Karagounis; Ruiz, Berbatov, Richardson; Petric.
Chelsea: Cech; Azplicueta, Ivanovic, Terry, Bertrand; Mikel, Lampard; Moses, Mata, Hazard; Torres.
Prediction: 2-1 to Chelsea
