Ancelotti shakes things up

Posted Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by PA

Carlo Ancelotti will make numerous changes to the side for the visit of Bolton in the Carling Cup.

John Terry, Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are all rested.

Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Deco, Daniel Sturridge, Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou all return with Nemanja Matic, Jeffrey Bruma and Fabio Borini on the bench along with Lampard, Drogba and Essien.

Jose Bosingwa (knee), Ashley Cole (ankle), Yury Zhirkov (knee) and John Mikel Obi (knee) are all sidelined.

Meanwhile, Ancelotti has given his squad a clean bill of health amid scares of a possible outbreak of swine flu at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea's 5-0 victory over Blackburn last Saturday has become overshadowed by cases of swine flu among the Rovers squad.

The Blues were told Blackburn had a problem with the H1N1 virus the day before their clash, but Ancelotti is unconcerned some of his players may yet develop flu-like symptoms.

"I'm not worried," said Ancelotti. "The flu is not only on the pitch, it's everywhere. We take all the precautions and we want to think about playing, that's it.

"We are not worried about this problem because we've taken all the precautions.

"I know very well what I have to do if I have the flu. It's not a medical prescription. It's my grandmother's prescription - hot milk. Alcohol - red wine. Fantastic."

Some Chelsea players swapped shirts after the game against Rovers but despite general medical advice not to shake hands or swap shirts, Ancelotti said his side would carry on as normal.

"We will do the same things we normally do," added the Italian coach.

"It's not a problem. I think the players have stayed very well up to this moment."

Johan Elmander is set to return for Bolton.

The Swedish striker has been missing with a hamstring injury, but he is now back in full training and should be available for the match.

Gary Megson has no other major injury concerns aside from those involving long-term absentees Joey O'Brien and Sean Davis, who both have knee problems.

Megson insists the clash will have no bearing on the teams' meeting in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

Bolton play the Blues both home and away in a double-header over the next four days.

It may look like the ideal warm-up for the weekend's game at the Reebok Stadium, but Megson said that neither he nor opposite number Ancelotti would be viewing it like that.

"It won't make any difference at all - it is not part of that preparation and it will have absolutely no bearing on the game on Saturday," Megson said.

"I think if either team was using this as preparation, I think that would demean the Carling Cup a little bit.

"We want to go through, make no mistake about it, and I know Carlo will want to go through.

"Regardless of them wanting to win the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup, they will want to win this one as well - maybe not with the same priority as the other three but they will want to win it, I can assure you."