• Ivory Coast internationals due back on Wednesday
• Juliano Belletti out of Birmingham game

Chelsea’s title challenge is to benefit from Ivory Coast’s premature elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations with Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou expected back in London on Wednesday ahead of a first-team return for the weekend trip to Burnley.

The much-fancied Ivorians surprisingly departed the tournament in Angola at the quarter-final stage following a 3-2 defeat to Algeria yesterday. Chelsea had anticipated being without the forwards until the potentially critical collision with Arsenal on 7 February but, although neither player will be available for the awkward game with Birmingham City on Wednesday night, Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful they will feature at Turf Moor.

Both players’ fitness will be assessed later this week – there will potentially be two training sessions in which they can be integrated back into the team – but, while Chelsea have prospered in their absence, their return will be welcome ahead of a cluttered fixture schedule. Frank Lampard trained with the first-team at Cobham today having come off as a precaution after 66 minutes of their 2-0 win at Preston North End on Saturday complaining of a tight calf. The medical staff were monitoring his fitness tonight, but expect him to be available for the game against Birmingham.

That match represents something of a challenge to Chelsea’s recently regained momentum, with the visitors unbeaten in 16 matches in all competitions. Juliano Belletti, who has been filling in as a defensive midfielder in the absence of Mikel John Obi and Michael Essien, will be absent after twisting a knee at Deepdale. The results of a scan on the joint will be scrutinised on Tuesday with Ancelotti considering employing either Michael Ballack or Deco in that role on Wednesday.

ChelseaPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

• Roman Abramovich told manager to defend the Cup
• Italian will pick strongest possible side against Watford

The Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, stressed the importance of the club mounting a successful defence of the FA Cup in his initial meeting with Carlo Ancelotti as he smoothed the Italian’s appointment as manager at Stamford Bridge last summer.

Chelsea’s success last season under the interim manager Guus Hiddink earned them their only trophy since José Mourinho, who won the Cup in 2007, had left the club. Ancelotti won the Coppa Italia four times as a player with Roma and once, in 2003, as a coach during his eight years at Milan, but placed little emphasis on the domestic cup competition with the Rossoneri. That, however, is not an option at Chelsea.

“I think that I know very well how important this competition is,” said Ancelotti, whose side play Watford at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in the third round. “The first thing that the club said to me is that the FA Cup is not the Italian Cup. That was one of the first things said to me. The club want to win this competition, just like the Premier League or the Champions League. It’s the same. We want to do our best.”

With that in mind, the manager will pick the strongest side available to him against the Championship side, despite Chelsea’s lead in the Premier League having been shaved to two points by Manchester United. His hand is weakened somewhat by the departure of a quartet of players to the African Cup of Nations, with the leading scorer Didier Drogba a key absentee.

The side’s form had dipped through December, with one win in seven games in all competitions before Fulham were beaten 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Monday. Trailing to Zoltan Gera’s early goal, and booed off by their own supporters at the break, Chelsea recovered their poise with Ancelotti impressed by the role played by his senior players in sparking that response.

“My players showed they are a very good team in that game,” he said. “That was an important moment for the team. I saw them [form a huddle] at the end of the game, and that was a good thing to have, but also in the dressing room at half-time. When a team hasn’t played well, it’s normal that they don’t receive a clap, but a whistle [from the crowd]. It can be a good motivation for them, even if they are top of the league. The fans come to Stamford Bridge to see their team play well, and they hadn’t seen good football in that first half. So it was normal, good and right to have been booed off.

“But Didier, [John] Terry and [Frank] Lampard spoke to the other players in the dressing room at half-time and made sure there was a very good atmosphere in there. I spoke about what had happened in the first half, but I was not angry. I was not upset. I just spoke about changing the system. It was the players who created that atmosphere. And I saw a fantastic reaction out on the pitch after that. I have experience of football and I know it’s very difficult to change a game in the way my players did against Fulham. For me, that was a surprise. That reaction. It was fantastic: the determination, the personality. They wanted to win that game so much.”

Drogba’s influence will be missed both on and off the pitch while he competes for the Ivory Coast in Angola, and it was the forward who had addressed the huddle at the final whistle on Monday. “Drogba is not only a very good player, he’s a very good man,” Ancelotti added. “Of course, we’ll miss something with him away. He scores goals for us, and he’s also a strong personality. We will have to do more than our best to make up for his absence.”

Carlo AncelottiChelseaFA CupDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk