Ray Wilkins has ruled out three players ahead of Saturday’s visit of Blackburn Rovers to Stamford Bridge.
The assistant first team coach, speaking in the absence of Carlo Ancelotti, explained that he expects a tough game from Rovers, and we will have to do without the services of an important trio.
‘We have a couple of knocks and bumps and bruises but on the whole we are not too bad. Bosingwa will be out, Zhirkov will be out and John Obi [Mikel] probably just won’t make this one but we are getting there and should have a fully fit squad within a couple of weeks,’ he said.
Ancelotti has been forced to return to Italy due to the illness of his father, Giuseppe, but Wilkins is hopeful the manager will return to the technical area in time for Saturday’s game.
‘I am sincerely hoping Carlo will be back, his father unfortunately is not in the best of conditions, but I am hoping Carlo will be back with us and his father has improved,’ Wilkins said.
‘If that’s not the case I will look after the team with no problem whatsoever. I spoke to Carlo last night, his father was stable and we are keeping our fingers crossed, our thoughts are with him.’
The assistant will also lead training in the manager’s absence, and took the opportunity to comment on one Chelsea man in the news this week – Frank Lampard, who resumed normal service against Atletico with his 133rd Chelsea goal.
‘Frank is a world-class footballer and when someone we normally see score lots of goals doesn’t then people keep thinking his form is on the wane, but the other things Frank gives us, his defensive qualities, his making of goals, so his contribution to the team has been first class and we weren’t overly concerned. He will always score because he has the quality, but what else he gives to the team and club is first class,’ Wilkins confirmed.
‘He wasn’t dropped Wednesday night,’ Wilkins confirmed. ‘We have to look at the size of our squad and the quality we have. Ricardo wasn’t dropped, he was rested. He played three games on the spin then went and played international football so when it came to Wednesday Carlo decided he would leave him out, but we are perfectly happy with the way Riccy has been playing.
‘We made a couple of errors at Aston Villa at set plays, and we will rectify that. We have worked on it and we have spoken about it as well. A lot of the times with players of this quality it is word of mouth, just talking people through, seeing it again and getting it sorted and we are delighted with what’s happened.
‘We can’t keep harping on about defeats, but the next game comes round so fast. We look at the one coming up, we’ve assessed the situation and put it right and we now get on with the next one.’
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