Nicolas Anelka In Best Form Of His Career

Nicolas Anelka is in the best form of his career according to Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Anelka opened the scoring for Chelsea last night as they guaranteed their place in the knockout stages of the competition with a 4-1 win over Spartak Moscow.

Speaking to the Daily Star the Chelsea manager said: "Anelka was the key to opening up the game. He scored a fantastic goal - the most important.

"I think he is happy at this moment. He's the same compared to last year and the same Anelka I found when I came here, nothing has changed.

"He has experience. He maintains very good skill, ability, and speed. Overall he is in the best moment of his career."

But Chelsea did have to wait until four minutes into the second half to get their first goal before Didier Drogba converted a penalty, after he was brought down in the box, to make it 2-0.

Just four minutes later a fourth was added by Branislav Ivanovic as he got his head on the end of a free kick from Drogba.

But Spartak did restore some pride as they got a goal back, the first European goal that Chelsea has conceded, but it was too little too last as Ivanovic scored a second in injury time.

And while Ancelotti admits that there is still a long way to go in the competition be believes that his Chelsea side can be winners this season.

"There will be a long race getting to the final. When you reach the first aim, which is to win the group, the next aim is to reach the final, and then to win that.

"I don't know if we can do this, but we have a possibility. We have the motivation to do this, but sometimes you have to be lucky also.

"We are working to play the last game at Wembley. In the final. It is important to start well and it's still important to finish in first place in this group.

"But I think that the decisive time for the Champions League is in February and March. Then we have to be ready. Now we're in a good moment and we're hoping to avoid injury and keep people fit."

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw