Carlo cool as the holiday heat rises

THE arrival of Roberto Mancini at Manchester City may have unanticipated benefits for the man who sits in the other main Premier League hot seat – Carlo Ancelotti is now no longer the Italian new boy talking pidgin English who has to deliver silverware to an impatient owner. Or else.

Ancelotti has been experiencing his most difficult period since his long-trumpeted arrival at Stamford Bridge in the summer. Since demolishing Arsenal at the end of November his side has won only once in six games, was dumped out of the Carling Cup after a tactical miscalculation by the Italian, and he had to deal with fall-out over allegations that made England captain John Terry look like a passable impersonation of Arthur Daley, the spiv car dealer.

Add to that two tricky-looking games over Christmas away to Birmingham and home to Fulham followed by the departure of four players, including the redoubtable Didier Drogba, to the African Cup of Nations and you might expect a frown to be stitched across the bucolic features of the farmer’s son from Reggiolo in Northern Italy.