If it wasn’t for bad luck...

CARLO Ancelotti woke up in west London yesterday morning and peered under his bed for the black cat he’d trodden on.

Allegedly, it had a dead magpie in its gob.

The Premier League champions, weakened by injuries but also by some untimely meddling in the coaching staff by Roman Abramovich, have lost three of their last four games, the latest a 1-0 reverse at Birmingham City. The defeat was a ludicrous perversion of the run of play – Birmingham’s solitary shot on target produced Lee Bowyer’s winner, and resisted a barrage of 32 Chelsea attempts.