Get me goals, growls Grant

Chelsea's German Michael Ballack (L) stretches to tackle Reading's Leroy Lita (R) during the Premiership football match at Stamford Bridge in London.

Avram Grant said his Chelsea side simply had to score more goals if they are to stay in the race for the English Premier League title.

The Blues are on a nine-match winning streak, equalling the club record set in 2005, but have only won by more than one goal in just one of those games, leaving themselves open to late equalisers.

Chelsea boss Grant said his players needed to start converting more of their goalscoring opportunities to keep up the heat on Manchester United and Arsenal, who are four points ahead of the Blues at the top of the Premier League table.

"I would be happier if we had scored more goals," the Israeli said.

Grant watched Chelsea edge past strugglers Reading in a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, outplaying the visitors but being frustrated by some fine saves from USA goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.

Midfielder Michael Ballack, back after two games out with a calf injury, scored the decisive goal for the hosts.

The Germany captain headed in Paulo Ferreira's 32nd-minute cross.

"I hope that every game we play like this and we create chances because I don't think we will miss them like we did this game," Grant said.

"I will be very happy if we continue to create five, six or more chances every game.

Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips jumps for the ball against Reading during the Premiership football match at Stamford Bridge in London.

"If we create so many chances we want to score more. It's good that we win anyway. I don't think that every game we will create so many chances -- but we need also to put the ball in the net."

The former Israel boss said the Premier League leaders, who are scoring far more frequently than the Blues, could not understand how the west London side kept up in the title race.

"They always look at us and they ask why Chelsea is winning so much. I know it, I spoke with (Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson about this," he said.

"I wanted to stay in the same position after January and then anything can happen.

"As we concentrate on what we are doing, they look at what Chelsea are doing."

Grant's side has equalled the club's winning streak record and have the chance to make it 10 in a row away to ninth-placed Portsmouth on Saturday.

"It's a very good record," said Grant, who took over as Blues boss in September.

"We can see the development of the team. We keep our style even though we have missed a lot of our players -- I think not even for one game have we had even 90 percent of the squad.

Chelsea's Joe Cole (C) plays against Reading during the Premiership football match at Stamford Bridge in London. Chelsea won 1-0.

"All the development in the last three months, in all the aspects like the football, the mentality, the psychology, the style of the team, make me proud of what we did, especially the players."

Reading manager Steve Coppell is certainly not ruling the Blues out of the title race.

"Chelsea have got a lot to do but they're capable of doing a lot, with the players they have. It's a three-horse race," he said.

"You could very easily see them going through the rest of the season without being beaten.

"They're grinding out results rather than playing 'calypso football' but as long as they're winning, I don't think there's any complaints.

"With the players that are coming back from the African Nations Cup, there's still all to play for with over a third of the season to go."

While League Cup finalists Chelsea are chasing three domestic trophies and the Champions League crown, Reading have a fight on to secure a third season in the top flight.

The Royals are 16th in the table, two points above the relegation zone, with the second-worst defensive record in the division.

"I can't do anything about what's gone by," Coppell said.

"My mentality is to prepare as hard as I can for the next game. Can we win the next game? Of course we can. How do we go about it? That's my job to try and instill a framework in which the players can perform. But it's a tough league.

"We have got to get results in the games we're not expected to win. We do our best every game, we go flat out every game to try and win.

"We play Bolton on Saturday, that's all I'm concerned about."