Source: Daily_Mail
Preston 0 Chelsea 2: Ancelotti now understands beauty of the FA Cup
Carlo Ancelotti gets it now. It may have taken a while, a bit of explaining and a few DVD clips, but Chelsea's Italian boss understands what makes the FA Cup so special.[LNB]Not that there was any reason to get particularly excited as his team went through the motions to secure a place in the fifth round at Deepdale. No shocks here. No drama worthy of the name.[LNB]But having arrived in England last summer from AC Milan and a country where the domestic cup competition comes well down the list of priorities, Ancelotti has learned to treasure the famous piece of silverware Chelsea brought home from Wembley in May.[LNB] Too strong: Chelsea's Ballack blasts a shot at the Preston goal[LNB] It explains why he picked an almost full-strength line-up to defend the trophy and why his players responded by snuffing out any hope of Darren Ferguson celebrating his first home game as Preston boss with an unlikely win.[LNB]Ancelotti's assistant, Ray Wilkins, said: 'Carlo is excited about the FA Cup. We only had to show him little snippets of last year, clips of it in the dressing-room afterwards, the way the players felt about winning the Cup, and I'm sure he's watched it on telly as well. He didn't take too much convincing.[LNB]'In Italy, nobody comes to watch the Italian Cup until the latter stages.[LNB]New kid on the block: Sturridge celebrates with captain John Terry[LNB] 'When Carlo came here, people talked about the Premier League and the Champions League, and the FA Cup was down the pecking order. But since he's been here, he's realised it's one hell of a competition.'[LNB]Considering Sir Alex Ferguson is struggling to match Chelsea with all the resources available to him at Manchester United, it was asking a lot of his son Darren to do it with Preston.[LNB]A shock was never really on the cards once Nicolas Anelka fired Chelsea ahead in the 37th minute, and a second from Daniel Sturridge two minutes into the second half allowed the holders to coast over the line.[LNB]Anelka was the best player on the pitch. Ferguson described him as 'world class', a sentiment echoed by Wilkins, who claimed Chelsea have never had a 'flicker of a problem' with the complex Frenchman.[LNB]However, reports yesterday that Anelka is considering his future at Stamford Bridge after talks broke down over a new £120,000-a-week deal suggest otherwise.[LNB]As much as Ancelotti has come to value the Cup, Chelsea's title challenge will take centre stage again now with Wednesday's visit of Birmingham marking the first of five League games in 15 days.[LNB] French magician: Preston North End's Billy Jones (left) and Ross Wallace fail to get to grips with Nicolas Anelka[LNB] Such a heavy schedule could be a problem for Frank Lampard after the midfielder was taken off as a precaution suffering from fatigue.[LNB]Lampard is expected to be fit for Wednesday, although Juliano Belletti's twisted knee is causing more concern.[LNB]Having lost his first two games in charge, Ferguson takes Preston to Peterborough tomorrow to face the club that sacked him in November, despite having won back-to-back promotions.[LNB]'It would be a shame if we didn't get a good reception after what we did there,' he said.[LNB] CHELSEA
