Ray Wilkins says Chelsea did not 'drop' Ricardo Carvalho
- 00:00:36
- ITN
Ray Wilkins says Chelsea did not 'drop' Ricardo Carvalho
Carlo Ancelotti is hoping to be back in the Stamford Bridge dugout on Saturday after rushing home to Italy to be with his seriously ill father. The Italian coach learned that his father Giuseppe, 86, had been taken sick after Chelsea's 4-0 thrashing of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night. His father was in a stable condition on Thursday and the club's assistant boss Ray Wilkins is confident that Ancelotti will be back in time for Saturday's Premier League game with Blackburn. "I am sincerely hoping that Carlo will be back," said Wilkins. "His father is not in the best of condition. I spoke to Carlo last night and his father was stable, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will be back. Carlo will decide who plays." Chelsea bounced back from last weekend's defeat to Aston Villa against Atletico in midweek, with England midfielder Frank Lampard scoring his first goal in ten games. But Wilkins insists the club had never been concerned by his poor run. "Frank is a world class footballer and when someone who normally scores lots of goals and then doesn't do so, people keep thinking his form is on the wane. "But the other things he gives us are his defensive qualities and making of goals. "I think he's made more goals this season already than he did last season. So his contribution to the team has been first class. We were not overly concerned that he had not scored. We have no qualms with that whatsoever. "Frank is always going to score but what else he gives to the team and the club is first class." Wilkins also insisted that centre-half Ricardo Carvalho, left out of the side against Madrid, was rested and not dropped following their defeat at Villa. "Ricardo was not dropped on Wednesday night. He was rested. He played three games on the spin, went away and played international football on two occasions, and Carlo decided he would leave him out on Wednesday. We are perfectly happy with the way Riccy has been playing. "We made a couple of errors at Aston Villa but every club in the country makes errors at set-plays. We have worked on them and spoken about it a lot."
ITN | October 23, 2009
