Ancelotti refuses to rest Chelsea players

LONDON - Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has refused to rest his players and wants his strongest team to play Marseille tonight.

With qualification for the next round of the Champions League already assured, senior stars including John Terry, Michael Essien, Petr Cech and Florent Malouda were all expecting to give the Marseille tie a miss in order to prepare for this month’s three titanic Premier League fixtures, which the club dare not lose.

Ancelotti, who was expected to leave his main players behind for the club’s final Group F game, is so desperate for a win that he cancelled plans to rest some of his big names ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Spurs.

“It is important to have a good performance to improve our confidence. We need to put the best possible line-up on the pitch in Marseille. The result is not so important but we have to find our way again and get back to playing football like we can,” The Sun quoted Ancelotti, as saying.

“This is a key game for us - although the real key games are the Premier League games we have to come against Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal. For this reason, the only players who have stayed at home are those who are injured. Nicolas Anelka has a knee problem and Ashley Cole is recovering from an ankle injury,” he said.

“But apart from those two, everyone who played against Everton on Saturday is here,” Ancelotti said.

He added: “It is important to have a clear idea of what has been missing in our last few games and of what we have to do to put things right. We have to focus on the mistakes we have been making in our performances and try to resolve them.” (ANI)