Chelsea's William Gallas has told the London club's Premier League rivals they will have to settle for second place this season.

"I don't think anybody will catch us. Chelsea will be the champions again," Gallas told today's issue of French sports daily L'Equipe. "I don't know how many points ahead we will be but I'm sure of that."

Chelsea are 11 points clear in the league and face West Ham United later today . "If we can maintain that pace, it will be impossible to catch us up," the France defender said. "I have the feeling we can't lose. We're very strong this year. There's also a psychological factor. Teams playing us know they are likely to lose."

Gallas said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho deserved credit for the champions' impressive run. "He (Mourinho) does everything to make sure the 24 players remain at the same level, even those who don't play for a while," Gallas said.

"He makes sure that those who don't play keep training hard so they can be ready to play 90 minutes if we need them and will not make the team any weaker," he added.