Chelsea rest Drogba and Kalou after African adventure

Chelsea will leave strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou out of their squad for Saturday’s trip to Burnley following their Ivory Coast pair’s return from the African Nations Cup.

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti wants to give the duo more time to recover from the long journey from Angola, but insisted they were fit and ready to go.

“They need to work for some days and so will not able to play tomorrow,” Ancelotti said. “They will play on Tuesday against Hull.

“Didier will stay here to train. He has come back very well, also Kalou. They are fit but they travelled yesterday and so we don’t want to take the risk for the next games.”

A win over Burnley would allow Chelsea to open up a four-point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table, 24 hours before United take on third-placed Arsenal at the Emirates.

“Our job is to win and play well tomorrow and then we can watch a fantastic game between Manchester United and Arsenal,” Ancelotti said.

“I am focused for tomorrow. If we are able to win, any result between United and Arsenal is good for us.

“But the Arsenal game is not a decisive match in terms of the title because there are a lot of games until the end of the season.

“We could be in a very good position if we win our next two games. It won’t be easy though because Burnley and Hull are teams involved in the bottom of the table, so they will put strong pressure and determination into the game.

“So we have to pay attention. We played very well at home against Birmingham and Sunderland and we want to do the same away.”

Kalou said he had been keen to get straight back into action.

“I thought I had a good game for Chelsea against Fulham before we left and now I come back in good form,” he said.

Chelsea have not shown any signs of missing their African stars, with Nicolas Anelka in freescoring form in their absence, and Kalou acknowledged he now faces a fight for first-team chances.

“In Africa we were lucky because we had the Premier League on TV, so I watched the Sunderland game (Chelsea won 7-2), which was amazing,” he said. “We were in touch with England all the time.

“The team has been playing a different system and with the 4-3-2-1, we played it in the second half against Fulham in December and played much better.

“It is a great way of playing, everyone has been at their best and it is nice to watch. I have been here almost four years and I have played in every system, so I know that I can adapt to it.”