Chelsea Hit By Injury Trouble

Chelsea were rocked by a series of injuries during their Carling Cup defeat to Newcastle as Yossi Benayoun, Gael Kakuta and Salomon Kalou all picked up problems during the match.

Speaking to the BBC after the match Ancelotti said: We will know more tomorrow but they don't look good. They will miss the next few games.

"Kakuta had a problem on his leg while Benayoun's injury is his calf and Kalou hurt his thigh."

Chelsea are yet to lose in the Premier League and they were the first to score last night as Van aanholt found the back of the net after just six minutes.

But by half time last year's domestic double champions found themselves 2-1 behind as Ranger and Taylor had both scored for Newcastle.

At the re-start Chelsea's problems got even worse as Ameobi fired home a third after just four minutes of the second half.

And the London side's fortunes didn't improve as Yossi Benayoun went off injured and Chelsea had to play the last twenty eight minutes with just ten men after using up all of their substitutions.

But they did fight back as a shot and penalty from Anelka levelled that match at 3-3. but Newcastle would not be denied as Ameobi got his second just minutes from time to give Newcastle a great win.

And while Ancelotti admits that is is disappointed by the result he revealed that the Carling Cup was not a priority for the club.

"I am disappointed with the result but happy with the performance. We had a fantastic reaction when down 3-1 and it was 10 against 11.

"There was good spirit and personality from the young players. The game was very difficult but at the end we are happy for the performance of our players.

"The Carling Cup is not our priority. We have a very big game this weekend. We wanted to give an opportunity to our young players to improve their skills and rest some of the first-team players. I am not so disappointed.

"We did our best. I am disappointed for the result because we conceded four goals but the performance was good."

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw