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Chelsea captain John Terry has warned his teammates they need to buck up their ideas soon or face the prospect of finishing outside the top four again.
The Stamford Bridge star said last season’s experience of finishing sixth should be ramming home the importance of avoiding extra fixtures like the replay they face following the disappointing 2-2 draw with Brentford in the FA Cup.
It means a replay at Stamford Bridge will be required to see who will face Middlesbrough in the fifth round.
"Champions League football is a must next season," said Terry.
"We need to liven up a bit and realise the importance to the fans and the club.
“We saw last season, going to the Champions League final, suffering with all the extra games and stuff like that, we ended up finishing sixth in the League.”
Terry was making his return to the starting line-up after a lengthy injury lay-off and was happy to be back in a Chelsea shirt.
However, the former England captain was frustrated at the Blues not being able to see off minnows Brentford and admitted the Bees showed greater desire than the European champions.
Despite the disappointment of a poor result, Terry felt his side would have no trouble in brushing aside the League One outfit in the replay.
“Even though it's great to be back personally, on a team performance we should be winning the game and now we've made it difficult for ourselves with a replay again,” added the 32-year-old.
"We have another game we could do without but we should beat them at Stamford Bridge. I was disappointed because we didn't fight and they wanted it more.”
The replay is set to take place on February 17, which is the weekend of the other fifth-round ties and will mean further fixture congestion for the team.
Chelsea are currently third in the Premier League, 11 points behind leaders Manchester United and face a trip to Reading on Wednesday night in their next fixture.
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