Fixture pile-up riles Ancelotti as Blues try to end their form slump

Blues captain John Terry has suggested his side no longer have the strength in depth to handle the kind of injuries that have co-incided with their worst run in the Barclays Premier League for more than a decade.

But manager Ancelotti was adamant yesterday that now all his key players have returned, there was no reason why they could not get their title challenge back on track, starting at Arsenal on Monday.

"We had a problem because we had, at the same time, a lot of players injured," said the Italian, whose side have won just one of their last seven league games to slump from top to fourth.

Terry claimed Chelsea would be unable to rotate over the busy festive period due to the increased number of youngsters in their squad following a summer cull of more experienced names.

But Ancelotti backed his fledglings, saying: "When you are not in a good moment, it's very difficult to put in the young players because you don't want to put responsibility on their shoulders.

"But now it's different."

Ancelotti hit out at a schedule that sees his side host Bolton just two days after Monday night's crunch match at the Emirates Stadium.

"I want to say something about the Bolton game because we won't have the possibility to recover," he said, confirming his anger at the move.

"We'll have two days, compared to Bolton who, unfortunately, play on the 26th. We play on the 27th.

"That's not a good thing, to have one day less to recover.

"I'm not happy about that."