Ancelotti not considering player clear out

Carlo Ancelotti insists it is far too early to talk about a summer clear out at Stamford Bridge following Chelsea's Champions League exit to Inter Milan.

Chelsea's Italian coach has already refocused his seasonal ambitions on achieving the domestic League and FA Cup double following their disastrous European exit in midweek.

But while Ancelotti remains adamant that he has not spoken to owner Roman Abramovich about plans for next season, he accepts there will be new faces.

Much has been made of Chelsea's ageing side since their defeat at the hands of Jose Mourinho's Inter but Ancelotti is refusing to press the panic button.

When asked if he was looking at a major overhaul of the squad during the summer, Ancelotti replied: "We haven't planned. It's not the time now to plan.

"We have to look to the next game. We have 11 matches left until the end of the season and, after them, we'll have a lot of time to speak about the future of this team.

"It's normal that, with a new season, there are new faces. This is normal.

"Really, now, I want to think about this team. I want to put this team in the best position until the end of the season.

"Now is not the right moment, we have other things to think about. We have to look at the Premier League and the FA Cup.

"This is not an easy moment because we are out of the important competition, the Champions League, and we are disappointed about this.

"But this is football and we have to look forward to the next game. We have to have a very good reaction in the next game. Every game will be very important for us.

"We have 10 or 11 games before the end of the season and we can still do a fantastic season. We are involved in two important competitions so, after this disappointment, we need to have a good reaction."

Abramovich spoke with Ancelotti and his squad at their Cobham training ground on Thursday but the Italian insists it was nothing more sinister than to demonstrate his support for their efforts.

"Roman was here yesterday and spoke with me and with the players," confirmed Ancelotti. "He came here to support us because he knows very well football and he knows that we are involved in important competitions again. So I think his presence here was very good.

"We didn't speak about the future, about the changes for next season, because it's not the right time to speak about this.

"I said we have important games in the next week and we have to stay focused - all the players and all the club.

"Roman was disappointed and he's the owner of a club that's out of the Champions League. Everyone was disappointed about the last game against Inter.

"We didn't have a good performance on Tuesday because I said we'd lost the confidence in our play.

"We didn't play like we wanted. I think the players tried to do their best, but we didn't do our best. I have trust in these players, confidence.

"It can happen that, sometimes, we are not able to do what we want. But nothing else. I have fantastic, professional players and we will have a very good reaction.

"We have to train, we have to train every day. We have to maintain a good control of our players.

"We did very well in this season, changed something by putting a different identity in the team.

"We want to play good football - that has always been our aim - and we did that for a long time. We didn't in the last game, but we want to come back and play good football against Blackburn.

"We have to be strong, sure, and maintain good control of our emotions, but the players have good quality to do this."

Chelsea's double hunt begins in earnest against Blackburn on Sunday but Ancelotti knows they must keep on winning until the end of the campaign.

"We have a very important trophy again to pursue. We are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and, maybe, two points behind Manchester United but with a game in hand," said Ancelotti.

"So our destiny is in our own hands. If we win every game, we can do the double. That's very difficult, but we can try to do this. That's very important, to think about this.

"Only five teams, I think, have won a double in 140 years here in England. It's not easy, but we can think about this and do our best. That's our aim."