Ancelotti rests Cole for Chelsea's Slovakian trip

Ashley Cole will not fly to Slovakia with Chelsea for tomorrow's Champions League group game against Slovakians MSK Zilina as he has been rested by the manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Cole has played all four Premier League games for Chelsea this season, as well as two internationals with England, and Ancelotti has decided he needs a rest. Cole's divorce from his wife Cheryl went through last week, but the club insisted he has been given the game off for football reasons.

Ancelotti said: "Cole will stay out because I want to give him a rest. He played two games with the national team, played Saturday, and I will give him a rest. There is no problem but it is better for him to rest." The Italian warned last week that no one will be exempt as he rests all his best players in the coming weeks, and is proving it by leaving out Cole for the game.

Frank Lampard will also be staying behind, to work on his fitness in a bid to be available for Sunday's home game against Blackpool.

The good news for Ancelotti is that John Terry has recovered sufficiently from the bruised ribs he suffered in Saturday's 3-1 victory at West Ham United to travel with the squad.

Ancelotti said: "John Terry trained today and he will travel. The players we have out and unavailable are Bosingwa and Lampard. Jose still needs some time. Frank also needs some more time before he is ready to play, but he should be OK for the game on Sunday."

MSK's coach, Pavel Hapal, is promising his team will give Chelsea a game. He said: "We won't sell ourselves short. We want to show our supporters quality football and we'd like to get some points from our meeting with Chelsea."