Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti will put his trust in two strikers who
have never scored for the club as he looks to overcome the loss of
Ivory Coast frontmen Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.
Youngsters Fabio Borini, 18, and Daniel Sturridge, 20, will
be handed the task of keeping Chelsea's title ambitions on track
against Fulham on Monday.
Ancelotti admits he will be without Drogba and Kalou against
the Cottagers as they are heading off to link-up with the Ivory
Coast's training camp on Sunday, the day after Chelsea's clash with
Birmingham.
The pair, along with Ghana's Michael Essien and Nigeria's
John Mikel Obi, will be playing in the African Nations Cup in
January.
The Ivory Coast want their players to join them for a
training camp 14 days before the tournament begins on January 10,
and even though Chelsea will be hit hard on the striking front,
Ancelotti is adamant he will not spend in the January transfer
window.
Nicolas Anelka, Ancelotti's only established striker in the
absence of Kalou and 18-goal Drogba, has been ruled out of the
games against Birmingham and Fulham because of a muscle problem.
"We will still have 11 against Fulham," said Ancelotti. "If
Didier is not here, we can put in other players.
"Sturridge has an opportunity to show his qualities. He
played against West Ham very well in that second half and, maybe,
against Birmingham he can play from the beginning.
"I didn't ask owner Roman (Abramovich) for new players and he
has not asked me if I want them. I have a lot of confidence in my
strikers. Not only Drogba, not only Kalou, not only Anelka. Also
Sturridge and Borini.
"Against Fulham, maybe we'll only have Sturridge and Borini.
But in January, we'll have Anelka.
"I think that we have good solutions internally. We don't
need new players in this moment.
"Anelka has a little injury, a muscle problem. It's a small
problem, but he's not ready to play in these games."
Ancelotti is so confident that he will not recall striker
Franco Di Santo from his loan spell at Blackburn.
Portsmouth and West Ham have provided Chelsea with stern
tests recently, and in-form Birmingham and Fulham promise more of
the same stubbornness in the next few days.
Fulham's 3-0 demolition of Manchester United last Saturday
raised more than a few eyebrows.
"I wasn't the only one surprised," said Ancelotti. "They
deserved to win, played very well and stayed compact for 90
minutes. To win 3-0 against United is not easy."
But Ancelotti has much respect for his Fulham counterpart Roy
Hodgson and knows he will face a tactical battle on Monday.
"I've known Roy a long time," said the Italian. "When I was
assistant coach of Italy, I went to watch his training when he was
coaching the national team in Switzerland.
"I stayed one week with him watching his training. He's very
good putting his team in a good tactical position. They play 4-4-2,
but he's a very good teacher of this system."
