Hiddink´s Chelsea seek Cup lift at Watford

Chelsea travel to Championship strugglers Watford on Saturday in the last 16 of the FA Cup hoping to impress new boss Guus Hiddink and put their season back on track after a troubled week.

Chelsea axed manager Luiz Felipe Scolari on Monday after only eight months in charge, with the Blues seven points behind Manchester United at the top of the Premier League.

Hiddink has been appointed Chelsea boss until the end of the season but is expected to allow Ray Wilkins, who was assistant to Scolari, to take charge against Watford while the Dutchman watches from the stands at Vicarage Road.

The FA Cup tie could prove tough for Chelsea despite the Hornets flirting with relegation to League One, English football’s third tier.

Watford manager Brendan Rodgers knows all about his opponents, having managed the Chelsea reserve side before coming to Vicarage Road in November. Rodgers is assisted in his new role by Frank Lampard senior, father of the Chelsea and England midfielder. Another twist to Saturday’s game is that Wilkins has been a coach at Watford.

However all eyes will be on the 62-year-old Hiddink, set to combine his Chelsea duties with his current job as manager of the Russian national side.

“He is a good coach and a fantastic man,” Chelsea’s Brazilian defender Alex, who played under Hiddink at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, said on Thursday.

“I think he would play a similar system here to what we have seen, and when I was at PSV we played a 4-3-3 system – we had some very exciting times there.

“In my three years in Holland, two of them were with Guus Hiddink and we won the title both times, and the double once, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in my first year.”

Alex has been back in the Chelsea starting line-up in recent weeks owing to an injury to Ricardo Carvalho.

Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou meanwhile said the club’s players needed to show Hiddink they merited a place in the side.

“Chelsea think he is the right man and as a player, I am looking forward to working under him and I will do my best for the team and for him.

“We know he can do it because he did it before, and as a player you have to make the job easy for him.”

Kalou insisted the west Londoners remain capable of winning any one of the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League trophies this season.

“I still believe that we can do that and we have the players and side to do it. We have to get back to positive thinking and try to win games. If you win, the confidence comes back and we have to do it as a team.

“We have a new opportunity to do that now. It starts on Saturday and we have to win.”