Late Thursday morning in Cobham and Chelsea's training ground is all a hubbub. Players are returning from a welcome few days off, the procession of snazzy sports cars and pristine four-wheel drives purring into the car park interrupted only by Ross Turnbull free-wheeling in on a bicycle. Uefa's doping team loiter in reception, urine sample bottles presumably at the ready, while a group of wide-eyed corporate guests spill out unhelpfully from the media theatre. And yet, as he saunters through the palaver, the former midfielder turned interim first-team coach cum caretaker manager hardly bats an eyelid.

It takes a lot to fluster Roberto Di Matteo, which, at present, is just as well. The Italian is almost six weeks into an unexpected stint in charge of the club he served as a player for six years, his elevation necessitated by the abrupt dismissal of André Villas-Boas, and, every day, he confronts challenges that might reduce others to gibbering wrecks. Occupying his mind late last week was the case for his defence as he waited on news of Ashley Cole's ankle, Ryan Bertrand's calf, John Terry's ribs and Branislav Ivanovic's ultimately doomed appeal against a violent conduct charge. Nagging away was the schedule into which Chelsea are about to plunge: Tottenham Hotspur in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday night, Arsenal at the Emirates and Barcelona home and away, all in a frantic 10-day period. Others might consider the calendar as terrifying as it is unforgiving, though the stand-in merely smiles and describes the clutter ahead as "quite a unique little period".

Yet Di Matteo is not impervious to the pressure. There is a theory, often aired, that he had little to lose once Roman Abramovich deemed this campaign to have veered out of Villas-Boas's control. Chelsea were, by the Italian's own admission, playing catch-up in the Premier League and, even as he transferred his clipboards from the crammed coaches' office into the managerial suite, were well adrift of Napoli in their Champions League last-16 tie. Logic suggested the 41-year-old could work without fear of the sack, a privilege denied each permanent incumbent since Guus Hiddink's spell as the oligarch's Red Adair in 2009, though Di Matteo disagrees. "I feel responsible," he says, having taken his customary moment to weigh up a response. "That's the way my personality is. I have a responsibility, and all of us need to finish the season successfully: the management, the players, the club, everybody. So it's not a no-lose situation. Not in any way.

"Ultimately, I'll be judged on the results. I have an affection for this club from my playing days, but we're also talking about the long-term success of this club, and of these players. There is pride to play for, but there's also professional personal ambition. We want to challenge ourselves against the top teams in the world and are happy to be competing on so many fronts. And, personally, it's great for me to work with the quality of player we have here at Chelsea. We have the belief. We have the squad. We have the team. We have the players with the experience. Now we have to transfer all that on to the pitch and show what we're capable of."

The FA Cup means plenty to Di Matteo. As a player, he won it twice, scoring what was then the quickest Cup final goal to puncture Middlesbrough's resolve within 42 seconds in 1997, and pilfering the last in the showpiece at the old Wembley stadium against Aston Villa, three years later. There is an unwillingness on his part to linger on those happy memories. "This is not about me," he says. "It's about Chelsea, this group of players and an opportunity for them to win a trophy this year. Then, after that, we look to Barcelona, to Arsenal…" But, beneath all the matter-of-fact pragmatism, he must be pinching himself to be in a position to send a side out into such grandiose occasions.

Rewind a year and all this would have felt like a pipe dream. Dismissed at West Bromwich Albion after the side he had steered to promotion ran aground mid-season, he found himself on the outside, visiting former colleagues at clubs across the continent to further his coaching education so, when an opportunity arose again, it could be properly seized. "Learning, always learning. Had Chelsea played games like this back then, I probably would have come along. I used the time to improve before I was invited back here. Now, for the last six weeks, things have been slightly different again. Now I'm calling upon the experiences I've had as a player, and a coach, to get the best out of these players for the remaining time I've got.

"There hasn't been much time to think too much about strategies and so on. It's a daily plan to solve the problems thrown at us and emerge stronger. You pick things up on the way, and you even learn from the players you work with, but your overall philosophy doesn't change. I think my approach now is similar to that from West Brom – I have a way of doing things, based on good communication, which I believe is right – even if expectations and ambitions may be different at the club. We were under pressure at West Brom to get promoted and to stay up, even if, at a big club like Chelsea, the pressures are more highlighted by the public scrutiny you're under. It's part of our job, that pressure, and I cope with it well.

"I do my job to the best of my knowledge and I'm working very hard at the moment to try and get the results for this club. The margins are probably different. Look at our draw at Fulham last week. Some clubs would consider that a good result, but – because we are behind in the league and had led and controlled that game for so long – we ended up feeling disappointed. A point away from home would have felt better if we'd been sitting higher in the table. But we're playing catch-up, so every time we miss an opportunity to win a game we're all the more disappointed."

There remains narrow leeway in the pursuit of the top four – Chelsea are two points from fourth-placed Spurs, with five games to play and a visit of Newcastle, in fifth, to come – but that luxury will be denied them in the cup competitions. No other manager in the Premier League is pursuing targets on three fronts. Di Matteo's squad is heavy in experience, but hardly sprightly, placing yet more emphasis on recovery programmes and squad rotation. Terry and Cole would relish the opportunity to play in all four of the games to come, but is that really feasible? Regardless, Di Matteo must come up with plans that pinpoint which of his attackers might better unsettle William Gallas or Carles Puyol, which of his defenders is best able to snuff out Gareth Bale or Lionel Messi, and which of his midfielders can clamp down most efficiently on Luka Modric or Xavi Hernández. All talk of Arsenal can wait.

"We focus on the game ahead, nothing else, because every match we have is throwing up different challenges at the moment, so worry about the rest later," says Di Matteo. "We know that, when selecting a team to beat a Spurs or a Barcelona, it boils down to the collective: finding a side that is solid, but can also feed our strikers and cause the opponents problems. We must impose ourselves as well. If you look at Barcelona and the recent history of our clubs, we've always had good, tight games against them. Every time they play Chelsea, it's difficult for them and that'll be in the back of their minds coming here. We're going to make it hard for them again. A lot of people consider Barcelona favourites, but we believe we have a good chance. It's going to be very demanding, but I hope we are in a position where some of my players are able to play all these games. It's quite a unique little period, but we have to deal with it. And we're excited to be here. Really excited."

That is as emotive as he becomes, aside from laughing off an ambitious invitation to echo Gérard Houllier's assessment, made ahead of Liverpool's Champions League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen a decade ago, that his players were potentially "10 games from greatness". "I can already smell the headlines," adds Di Matteo before declining to comment. Liverpool were beaten by the Germans and ended up only playing seven more matches that term. Should Chelsea end up trotting out in 10 more, then even their caretaker may be swept up in the glory of it all. But, for now, pragmatism prevails.

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