Scolari fears for title as Chelsea loses at Man U

MANCHESTER, England — Luiz Felipe Scolari believes that Chelsea's Premier League title bid is destined to fail unless his team shrugs off Sunday's 3-0 loss to Manchester United.

Chelsea succumbed to its biggest loss at Old Trafford in 15 years, with an aging side failing to even come close to scoring against the defending champions.

"It's done big damage, very big damage," Scolari said. "We are not playing very well at the moment to win any competitions."

After dropping 14 points from a possible 24 in the recent slump, the second-place Blues find United just one point behind them with two games in hand. Liverpool, which drew 0-0 at Stoke on Saturday, has a four-point lead at the top.

"If we play like today and the last three or four games, sure we won't win (the title)," Scolari said. "But now is the time for me and the players to be thinking about our future.

"We lose everything or we are men and we regroup. This is the time, it is only this way. The second way is dead."

Already out of the League Cup, Chelsea faces an FA Cup replay against Southend on Wednesday after conceding a late equalizer to League One team last weekend.

Despite the disappointing run and his team's first away loss of the season in the league, Scolari believes his players can still get Chelsea's title challenge back on track.

"It's more hard than before because we don't play against Manchester again and they are in front with two more games to play," Scolari said. "But the competition isn't finished. I need to talk to my players and they need to understand what's happened in this game and the last two or three games. We need to change the mentality and attitude."

United went ahead just before halftime when Nemanja Vidic was allowed to send a downward header past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech at the far post after Dimitar Berbatov had flicked on a corner from Ryan Giggs.

Chelsea had no better luck in the second half, despite Scolari changing his tactics.

After deploying Didier Drogba on his own up front in the first half, the introduction of Nicolas Anelka alongside him in favor of the ineffective Deco at the break just opened up the game more for United.

"They played more free. We tried to put more players in front and gave them the space they wanted to play," Scolari said. "They are better than us in that time and scored one more goal by foul.