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Carlo Ancelotti believes Manchester United have no chance of winning the title if Wayne Rooney gets injured.
The Chelsea boss, whose side play Birmingham tonight, believes no other player at United has Rooney's quality in front of goal and insists he would be too big a miss for the Reds to cope with.
Without Didier Drogba - who returns from the Africa Cup of Nations today - Chelsea have hit 14 goals in three games with Nicolas Anelka leading the line.
Rooney has hit 21 goals so far this season, including all the goals in the 4-0 win over Hull last weekend. By contrast, team-mates Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen have been major disappointments this season.
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Ancelotti believes that while Chelsea have thrived in Drogba's absence the title will prove a bridge too far for United if Rooney were to pick up a knock. He said: "Without Rooney it’d be difficult. He’s the best striker at Manchester United, one of the best strikers in the world.
"He’s a very decisive player for Manchester United. We have a possibility without Didier because we can put Anelka on, another top striker in the world. Rooney, for me, is a fantastic player.
"He’s not only a striker, but a player – he’s a champion, a world-class player. He’s not a ‘striker’ because he’s not only a finisher. He plays for the team.
"I saw him play left wing last year and coming back to help out the team defensively. He’s a football player. I’m a big fan of Rooney’s.
"I think that, in this moment, to avoid injury is very important. Now, every game is important in the Premiership, in the Champions League, and in the FA Cup.
"We have to do our best to avoid injuries. So we have to control training, the players’ rest (to control the players’ fatigue in this period), and we can do that because we have good facilities.
"We have to control the load of the matches and training. To have injuries now is very difficult. The risk is to arrive at the end of the season with a tired squad.
"Without Didier we had the possibility to put other strong, fantastic players in. Without Didier in the Champions League at the start of the season, Nicolas did very well.
"Now we have Nicolas and [Daniel] Sturridge doing very well in this month. So we had the possibility to play without Didier. We changed something on the pitch but if we have less strength in forward areas we can use other players."
Drogba will not play against Birmingham tonight and is expected to return for Chelsea at the weekend at Burnley.
Meanwhile, Ancelotti believes the contract concerns which have plunged the futures of Anelka and Joe Cole into doubt will be resolved before the end of the season.
Cole is out of contract in the summer while talks over an extension to Anelka's current deal have broken down.
Ancelotti, however, maintains both players are "100 per cent" certain to stay and insists they have indicated as such to him.
He went on: “I think that they are speaking with his agent and they will try to find the right solution for both the club and for him. I’m confident he’ll sign.
"Yes. Anelka is a top player and this club needs to have a lot of top players. And so, it’s the same question with Joe Cole. We want to keep him and he wants to stay. There will be a resolution.”
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