Carlo Ancelotti has all but admitted defeat on having Didier Drogba available for the home clash with Fulham on Monday. Drogba and Kalou are due to join up with the Ivory Coast squad, prior to the African Nations Cup in Angola. Ancelotti was expecting to have both available for the Fulham date but is now admitting that it looks inevitable that he will lose them both to the Ivorian’s pre-tournament preparations…

“I made a mistake. Officially, the players have to go 14 days before the start of the African Cup of Nations. That starts on Jan 11 so it’s the 27th or 28th [they leave]. I hope that Didier will be able to play [against Fulham], but that depends on the Ivory Coast’s federation….I spoke with the manager two weeks ago. He would like to have the players, all of them who are involved in the Premiership, on Dec 27. We cannot go against Fifa rules. If it’s possible and the Ivory Coast agree, that’ll be good. If it’s not possible, he’ll have to leave on Dec 27.”

For me, this still suggests there is a hope that Drogba will run out against Fulham, although it’s starting to look like a forlorn one…

Drogba was sold by over 58,000 managers in the Fantasy Premier League game last gameweek after he missed the home game with Portsmouth with a back problem. Over 19,000 have sold him on this gameweek in preparation for his departure to Angola. We can expect a huge number of sales following the Boxing Day fixture at Birmingham. There will be some big money flying about for gameweek 20 and 21 then, with the likes of Rooney, Torres, Gerrard and Lampard all set to earn big interest in the wake of Drogba sales. Gameweek 19 will go a long way to deciding where that money goes.

As for the Chelsea frontline, that’s already lost Anelka to injury for the Birmingham and Fulham games, leaving Ancelotti turning to Daniel Sturridge and possibly Fabio Borini to lead his attack against Hodgson’s side.