Ancelotti thinking long-term at Chelsea

Carlo Ancelotti is still enjoying the honeymoon period of his relationship with Chelsea but already his thoughts are turning to the long-term.

The Italian, who turned 50 in June, revealed Friday that he plans to retire in six years and hinted that he could spend all that time in west London.

“I started to train in 1995 and, after two years of this job, I thought that, for me, I would end my career in 2000,” said Ancelotti.

“When I got to 2000, I said, ‘now it’s better to continue because I like this.’

“I thought I’d close my career in 2005 but after (AC Milan’s) Champions League final defeat against Liverpool, I thought it was better to continue. Now, my stop is 2015.

“I hope to stay here. It depends not only on me. But I can say that, after three months here, I hope to stay a long time.”

Ancelotti has certainly made a good start at Chelsea winning eight games in all competitions under his stewardship and aiming for a seventh straight victory in the Premier League at Wigan on Saturday.

The head coach’s options have been bolstered by the return to action of Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov but both men, who featured in the League Cup win over QPR in midweek, will be on the bench at Wigan, Ancelotti said.

Striker Didier Drogba is fit after shaking off the calf injury which resulted in him limping out of Sunday’s win over Tottenham.

Ancelotti added: “At the moment there’s a very good atmosphere around this team. We have won all the games, so that atmosphere isn’t unusual.

“Wigan like to play football on the ground, they don’t use a lot of long balls and we have respect for this team because they have very good players.”