Eden Hazard is convinced Chelsea will finish in the Premier League's top four and qualify for next season's Uefa Champions League after a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Sunday consolidated their position in fourth.
After fifth-placed Arsenal lost 3-0 to Leicester City earlier in the day, a win for Chelsea at Old Trafford would have moved Maurizio Sarri side five points clear of their London rivals.
However, former Blues midfielder Juan Mata opened the scoring in the 11th minute for United, who would have moved above Arsenal with victory and to within a point of Chelsea.
Those hopes were dashed after United goalkeeper David De Gea's latest blunder allowed Marcos Alonso to equalise two minutes before half-time. Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger hit a tame long-range effort that De Gea palmed into the path of the unmarked Alonso, who slotted home from an acute angle.
The Spanish stopper has endured a difficult season and has been guilty for a number of errors, although he was called into action late on and produced a vital block to deny Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain deep into stoppage time.
A draw certainly favoured Chelsea, but Hazard believes his side could have done more to win the game.
"A good day but could be better," he told Sky Sports. "We came here thinking about winning the game, a draw is not a bad result for us, but I think if we believe a bit more in our chances we can score another goal. We now have two games and we will try and be in the top four.
"We started slowly but today we had a reaction and scored our goal. I don't remember one chance for them in second half."
Hazard's future has been the subject of much debate this season with recent reports claiming Real Madrid have made the Belgian forward a top transfer target. Any hope Chelsea have of retaining their best player will depend on their ability to qualify for the Champions League, but Hazard has no doubts his club will be in next season's competition.
"Chelsea has to play in the Champions League every year," he said. "It's one of biggest clubs in the world, and for myself also I want to play in the Champions League, and we will."
United goalscorer Mata said his team can take some positives out of their display against Chelsea, which represented a marked improvement on recent results.
"We're disappointed, we obviously wanted to win and we needed to win and we're disappointed after we had a good first half," he told Sky Sports. "It's difficult when you have the top four so close and you've done an incredible job to get there over the last months.
"That's how we should start every game at home especially. We put the other team in trouble and we did very well in first half today especially."
Mata also leapt to the defence of goalkeeper De Gea, who has produced an uncharacteristic amount of errors this season.
"You know David is unquestionable for me. His level has been fantastic for this club, he has been the best player over the last years and the points he has saved us have been incredible," Mata said.
"He knows I'm here for him and what I can do is give him an honest consideration of situation, he is disappointed over his situation but he is one of best in the world. Everyone makes mistakes but he's strong mentally and he will save many goals in the next games."
