Ancelotti not concerned by Chelsea slump

Carlo Ancelotti insisted Chelsea’s Premier League title challenge remains in robust health ahead of the busy festive period despite their sloppy 3-3 draw with Everton.

The west Londoners’ aura of invincibility has taken a severe bruising in recent weeks, with the club knocked out of the League Cup by Blackburn, beaten by Manchester City in the league and held to a home draw in their final Champions League group game by Apoel Nicosia.

The blip became a fully fledged slump on Saturday, when Chelsea leaked three goals from set-pieces in drawing at home to a struggling Everton and their defence once again failed to impress.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech endured another tortuous afternoon, conceding an own goal early on and then finding himself stranded for Everton’s last equaliser midway through the second half, while none of Chelsea’s usually assured back four appeared entirely at ease.

The damage inflicted was minimal given Manchester United’s defeat later in the day to Aston Villa and Chelsea are now three points clear at the top, but this was still a performance which will give heart to the Blues’ title rivals, even if Ancelotti insisted there was no need for panic.

“You (the media) can say we are in crisis but I do not think so,” he said. “I want to be objective with this and we have the same possibilty to win the title.

“When I look at the game against Everton, I saw my team playing very well. We deserved to win but we didn’t defend set-plays.

“For this game, for sure – we conceded three goals from the same situations but that is because we were defending too deep in our area.

“We had the same problem against Aston Villa recently. We improved after that and we have to do the same again now. We were unlucky against Everton so I was not angry with the players.”

That much might be true but the normal rules tend not to apply at Chelsea, where any slip is seized upon as evidence of a manager in meltdown.

Ancelotti does not deserve to be considered in that light but, while he was sanguine enough in public, behind closed doors he will surely be fretting at how his defence has turned to jelly in December.

They have now conceded 10 goals in their last four matches and, had it not been for the imperious Didier Drogba, they might have sustained even more damage to their title prospects last weekend.

The Ivory Coast striker turned in another awesome display of muscle married with no little skill, and his performance will have given Everton’s defence nightmares.

Drogba equalised Cech’s own goal – the ball bouncing off his back after Louis Saha’s header had hit the post – with a superb curling shot from the edge of the area after a slick move.

Nicolas Anelka added a second before Ayegbeni Yakubu capitalised on more defensive uncertainty to equalise just before half-time, before Drogba took centre-stage again.

He volleyed in with consummate skill from 10 yards after being picked out by Branislav Ivanovic.

Chelsea are coming to rely heavily on Drogba, who now has 18 goals in all competitions this season, but they must discover alternatives before he leaves for the African Cup of Nations on December 29.

“Didier is very important for us and he is playing well,” Ancelotti added. “But we can play and win without him – I am sure of this.”

That they could not win with him against Everton says much for the durability of the Toffees, who shrugged off 10 injuries to first team regulars to earn a point.

“I was worried about how it would end up beforehand because of the number of players we had out,” coach David Moyes said.

“But they showed resilience and endeavour and played really well so I could not be happier with them. We have 10 or 12 regular guys out at the moment so this is the best result of the season for us.”