Carlo Ancelotti today insisted he had no intention of quitting Chelsea at the end of the season.
Carlo Ancelotti today insisted he had no intention of quitting Chelsea at the end of the season.
The future of under-pressure Blues boss Ancelotti has been the subject of fevered speculation, with reports linking him with a return to Italy with Roma.
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But the 51-year-old declared today he would honour his contract, which expires in 2012, and hinted he may stay even longer.
"I'll stay in London at least until 2012," he told Corriere dello Sport.
Ancelotti also rubbished suggestions of a dressing-room rift at Stamford Bridge in the wake of the club's worst run in the Barclays Premier League for more than a decade.
"There aren't problems in the dressing room, the relationships are good," he said.
"Everything depends on the results that haven't arrived because of too many misfortunes."
Ancelotti highlighted injury and suspension to the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Alex as being the key factor behind his first really tough spell since his appointment a year and a half ago.
Last month also saw assistant Ray Wilkins sacked having been Ancelotti's right-hand man during last season's historic double success.
The Barclays Premier League champions' form has dipped alarmingly since and they have not won for five matches, dropping from first to fourth.
They missed a stoppage-time penalty to beat Tottenham on Sunday but Ancelotti feels their performance bodes well for this weekend's crunch clash with Manchester United.
"In that game I realised that we are alive and we will start winning soon," he said.
Ancelotti will be boosted by the return of star midfielder Lampard, who looks set to start on Sunday after coming through a practice match unscathed today.
England international Lampard scored in what was a 60-minute game at the club's Cobham training ground, which pitted two sides from the first-team squad against one another.
The 32-year-old made a surprise comeback after three-and-a-half months on the sidelines at Tottenham, playing the final 12 minutes at White Hart Lane.
Ancelotti revealed after the game that Lampard would start against league leaders United this weekend providing he suffered no reaction today.
The absence of Chelsea's vice-captain has also forced Ancelotti to throw summer signing Ramires in at the deep end.
The Brazil midfielder has struggled to make an impact since becoming the Blues' only big-money buy during the last transfer window.
After an outstanding performance against Arsenal in October, the 23-year-old looked to have found his feet but he was unable to rediscover that form until impressing at Tottenham.
That has given him the confidence to declare he is finally beginning to demonstrate why Chelsea paid Benfica a reported ufffd18.3million for his services.
"I feel good, I feel better all the time and I think I am more adapted than I was before, and starting to show the football I played at my previous clubs," he told his club's official website, www.chelseafc.com.
"I am working harder and harder to show that I am more at home in England."
Ramires, who had never left his native Brazil until moving to Portugal last year, claims the language barrier has been a problem for him but revealed his determination to learn English as quickly as possible.
Speaking through an interpreter, he added: "With the language, I am still taking lessons to try and improve my English because, obviously, I want to be more chatty with the rest of the people here and want people to know more about me.
"It is hard sometimes. You don't always understand what you are being told and it is hard for me to express myself, but I am enjoying the lessons and my English is getting better all the time.
"As for life in London, I am settling, I have my family here with me and I am happy, so things are going well and I look forward to fulfilling my contract with Chelsea."
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