Chelsea To Recall Didier Drogba For Hull Clash

Drogba returns to Stamford Bridge following his involvement with the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations, where Les Elephants reached the quarter-finals but were knocked-out by Algeria.

"It will be a similar team to against Burnley, Didier will play from the beginning, and also Deco and Ricardo Carvalho had recovery time against Burnley and will play from the start," confirmed Ancelotti on the club's official website.

Primary left-back Ashley Cole, who was withdrawn during the Burnley fixture on Saturday, remains a doubt.

"Cole we don't know, we will take a decision tomorrow because he had a problem on his ankle and we have to wait for tomorrow."

Ancelotti's first game in charge was against the Tigers, a side Chelsea beat 2-1 due to a brace from Drogba.

"It was the first game, now we have played a lot of games in England and I have a good experience.

"I knew very well the top four but small teams I did not know, now I have that experience. Every game is difficult here, around the game there is a very good atmosphere and when you play away it is more difficult to win."

Even though Hull are no threat to the top four, Ancelotti is still wary about the dangers of a trip to the KC Stadium.

"Hull are very able on the long ball, on the head, and we have to pay attention to set-pieces, but we want to do our game.

"It is no problem to play this game before Arsenal, now we are in a good moment and the players are fit, so it is not bad to continue to play when you are in a good moment, the momentum is very good.

"The Arsenal game is some days away, we want to prepare every game like a final because every game is very important and we have time after to think about the next game against Arsenal.

"We have to stay focused against Hull because if we are not we can have a problem."