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Ancelotti expects Chelsea to respond to Wigan setback
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-28 10:54 WIGAN, England: Carlo Ancelotti has promised Chelsea will provide a response when they travel to Apoel Nicosia after suffering their first defeat under the Italian. The Blues head to Nicosia for Champions League duty on Wednesday hoping to make up for a miserable 3-1 defeat at Wigan on Saturday.
It was the first time they have been beaten since March and the first time they had lost since former AC Milan coach Ancelotti took over at Stamford Bridge in the close-season. The concern for the Italian is that Ashley Cole and John Obi Mikel could miss the Champions League match after sustaining injuries at the DW Stadium. Cole picked up a knee injury that forced him to be carried off while midfielder Mikel suffered an ankle problem. Ancelotti is also facing up to the fact that Henrique Hilario will have to fill in for Petr Cech against Liverpool next Sunday, after the Czech goalkeeper was sent off in the defeat to the Latics. Manchester United's 2-0 win at Stoke meant that Sir Alex Ferguson's team moved above Chelsea on goal difference. But while Ancelotti wants to see more from his team in Nicosia, he expects to fight United all the way in the title race. He said: "I think that there will be a lot of competition until the end of the season. "I don't know why we lost at Wigan because we prepared very well and we knew what was important. "This can happen after a lot of victories and we have to accept this loss and fix it in the next match in the Champions League.
Titus Bramble opened the scoring against the Londoners before Dider Drogba equalized a minute after the restart. But after Cech was sent off for tripping Hugo Rodallega, the Colombian converted the resulting spot-kick before Paul Scharner added Wigan's third in the closing stages. Latics manager Roberto Martinez felt Wigan have shown how to play against Chelsea after picking up a first victory over a 'big four' team in 35 attempts. He said: "The only way that you can upset Chelsea a little bit is to not allow them the ball, not allow them to feel themselves and they found it difficult in that respect but the moment you switch off you're going to be punished. "All the positive things we did were backed up by the concentration levels at the back and it was a complete performance. "When you are a team like Wigan and you've got Chelsea at home, you've got two options. You can be brave and beat them or you can get hammered. "In the the past two games (against Manchester United and Arsenal) we lost 5-0 and 4-0 and the only reason that we won against Chelsea was that we maintained our standards, we learned our lessons and we were brave from the first second." AFP |
