• ‘I always respect the decision of the club,’ says Italian
• Manager calls for strong end to season from his players

Carlo Ancelotti has accepted his share of responsibility for what will end as the worst season Chelsea have endured in the Roman Abramovich era and admitted it would “not be a problem” if the owner decided to sack him at the end of the campaign.

Elimination from the Champions League by Manchester United in midweek has left Chelsea with seven league games to achieve, realistically, a second-place finish at best. Abramovich and the chief executive, Ron Gourlay, are intent upon reviewing the campaign in full next month before formally announcing a decision on the Italian’s future, though it is expected that he will become the sixth manager to depart Stamford Bridge over the oligarch’s eight-year ownership.

Ancelotti was admirably dignified in addressing his precarious situation yesterday but, with shades of the inevitability of Claudio Ranieri’s departure from the club in 2004, appeared somewhat resigned to his fate. “The club can judge the job I’ve done,” he said. “If they decide at the end of the season that it was not good enough, they have to change. Without problem. I always respect the decision of the club. I have a contract [to 2012] and everyone knows this but, at the end of the season, the club can decide if I am to continue here or if they want to change. For me, this is not a problem.”

There was an admission that he had been well aware of his employers’ recent reputation for dismissing managers – “I know the history of Chelsea,” he said – and an insistence that the owner should take into account his achievements in claiming the club’s first Premier League and FA Cup Double last season before making his decision. Yet he acknowledged, too, his own failings over a traumatic campaign.

“I could do better, I could do better,” he said. “But I don’t have to justify anything because I’ve been working here for two years. So what do I have to justify? Nothing. I try to do my best every time. I don’t know if he will make a decision over just this year or over my two years here. I think it should be judged over two.

“It’s not the moment now to make a decision if I stay or go because, now, it is not possible to make a decision with a ‘cold’ mind. It’s better to wait and see what happens at the end of the season. I have plans for the team next season, I’m sure, but I haven’t spoken about those [with the owner] yet. I hope I have the chance to discuss them. I don’t know if this is fair or unfair on me. I’m not the right person to judge that. I’m just doing a job here and the club have to decide if that job has been good enough.”

It has been suggested that Ancelotti’s apparent indifference to being sacked is evidence of a lack of commitment to Chelsea, particularly as a substantial pay-off for the remaining year on his contract would be due. It is, though, more a reflection of the culture he is used to back in Italy, where his eight-year stint in charge of Silvio Berlusconi’s Milan bucked the general trend. “I come from a country where they don’t think continuity is the right way,” he said. “But what is the most important thing for a club, and for a manager, is to have a good relationship with the owner. If this relationship is not good, you have to change. Until now, the relationship with the owner at Chelsea is fantastic. He has supported me this season when we haven’t achieved important results. Until now, this relationship has been fantastic.

“If, at the end of the season, the owner decides the job I did was not good enough, this is not a problem. I know football. I know clubs sometimes want to change the manager. I will continue to try to do my best because I want to stay here. And if there is any possibility of doing that, I will be happy.”

His best chance of seeing out his contract would appear to lie in the lack of obvious high-calibre candidates to replace him, though while the Italian’s mood yesterday suggested he expected to be leaving the club. , Hhe remains intent on seeing out the season with a flourish, starting with Saturday’s tricky trip to West Bromwich Albion. “We have to use this game as a measure of our character, our personality, our strength,” he added. “It’s easy to prepare for a semi-final in the Champions League and harder to be motivated for this kind of game. But it is a good opportunity to show everyone that we are strong and have character.”

Carlo AncelottiChelseaDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

• Frank Lampard targets Manchester United for first game back
• Ray Wilkins resolves compensation issue after sacking

Chelsea should be strengthened by the return of John Terry for the weekend visit of Everton to Stamford Bridge though Frank Lampard will have to wait to make his first appearance since August. The England midfielder is targeting the game against Manchester United in two weeks’ time for his comeback.

Terry has trained for the past two days with his team-mates at Cobham having undergone extensive physiotherapy in London and Milan to relax the piriformis muscle which has been troubling his sciatic nerve. The centre-half feared he might be absent for months having suffered pain since the tail-end of last season, though his return reflects both the captain’s desire to play his part and the club’s desperation to halt a slump that has resulted in only one win in five Premier League games.

The treatment received after consultations with Dr Jean-Pierre Meersseman in Italy and a specialist in London appears to have had some positive effects, allowing Terry to consider a first appearance since the victory over Fulham last month. That win meant Chelsea moved four points clear at the top, though they have since surrendered a two-point advantage to United and are playing catch-up for the first time this season with daunting fixtures against the leaders, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur to come this month. Chelsea have claimed only a point in the three league games he has missed.

His anticipated return will be particularly timely given that Alex is in Brazil undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, which has been swelling up badly after games, and will be absent for up to two months. The 28-year-old will remain in his homeland for a further 10 days before returning to Cobham to undergo his rehabilitation. Aside from Terry, that leaves Branislav Ivanovic as the only senior centre-half with notable experience available to Carlo Ancelotti ahead of next month’s transfer window.

Michael Essien, suspended for their past three league games and troubled by a toe injury, will return against Everton to counter the prolonged absence of Lampard. The 32-year-old has not played since the 2-0 win over Stoke in late August, after which he required surgery on a hernia. His recovery was then wrecked when he ripped a hamstring tendon from the bone, which sidelined him for a further 10 weeks, before he suffered an adductor muscle injury in training last month.

Lampard has been training on his own this week, largely in the gym, and is expected to rejoin the first-team group only on Friday. It may be unrealistic to expect him to have regained match fitness for the trips to either Olympique Marseille next week or Spurs on 12 December, leaving the visit of United to Stamford Bridge as his most likely comeback date.

While Chelsea continue to attempt to secure their French youngster Gaël Kakuta to a new long-term deal – there is interest in the teenager from Milan and Bayern Munich, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season and both parties still some way apart – they have at least resolved their compensation issue with Ray Wilkins. The assistant first-team coach was sacked unexpectedly three weeks ago and had consulted his lawyers, through the League Managers’ Association, citing his departure as an “undoubtedly unfair dismissal”. The club’s chief executive, Ron Gourlay, said an “amicable” agreement has been reached.

“It has obviously been a big wrench leaving such an illustrious club and one which has played such a huge role in my playing and coaching career,” said Wilkins. “I have great affection for the club, the staff, the players and its supporters and wish them all the very best for the remainder of this season and the future. I would also like to thank the club and the LMA for ensuring that matters have been brought to a swift and harmonious conclusion.”

ChelseaJohn TerryFrank LampardDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk