Wilkins - Carvalho not dropped

Carvalho: Not dropped

Related links

Teams

• Chelsea

Also see

• Chelsea fixtures
• Chelsea stats
• Chelsea forum

Chelsea assistant boss Ray Wilkins has insisted Ricardo Carvalho was rested against Atletico Madrid in midweek and not dropped.

The defender failed to track Richard Dunne for the equaliser in Chelsea's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa last Saturday, leaving some to believe the Portugal international was dropped for the UEFA Champions League victory.

But Wilkins claims the Chelsea coaching staff are perfectly happy with Carvalho and he was simply rested for Wednesday' 4-0 triumph.

The Blues assistant boss told Sky Sports News: "He wasn't dropped for Wednesday night - we have to look at the size of our squad and we have to look at the amount of players we have and the amount of quality players we have.

"Ricardo wasn't dropped, he was rested. He played three games on the spin and then he went away and played international football on two occasions, so when it came to the game on Wednesday Carlo (Ancelotti) decided that he would leave him out of that situation.

Perfectly happy

"But he wasn't dropped - we're perfectly happy with the way Ricky's been playing, perfectly happy.

"We made a couple of errors at Aston Villa - every club in the country makes errors at set-plays. We've made them and we will rectify them."

Meanwhile, Wilkins confirmed Jose Bosingwa and Yuri Zhirkov are definitely out, while John Obi Mikel will probably be missing, for Saturday home clash against Blackburn.

He told the club's official website: "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 probably just won't make this one but we are getting there and should have a fully fit squad within a couple of weeks."

Ancelotti hopes

Wilkins is also hopeful that Ancelotti will be on the bench at Stamford Bridge for Saturday's game after the Italian was forced to return to his homeland due to the illness of his father, Giuseppe.

"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," he 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."

Frank Lampard scored against Atletico to end a goal drought, but Wilkins insisted the coaching staff had not been worried by his failure to find the net.

He said: "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 there are 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."