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Ancelotti hails Ess express
08:45, Nov 22 2009
Carlo Ancelotti acclaimed Michael Essien as one of the best midfielders in the world after his two-goal super show against woeful Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
Essien scored twice inside 10 minutes after Florent Malouda had put the Blues ahead in the fifth minute. England midfielder Joe Cole completed the rout with his first goal for over a year as Chelsea set a new club record of 12 consecutive home wins.
Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho nicknamed Essien 'The Train', but Ancelotti is not one for off-the-cuff monikers. But asked if he had his own personal pet name for Essien, boss Ancelotti replied: "No, his name is Michael. I think Essien is one of the most important players in midfield in the world."
He added: "He can play everywhere in midfield with the same result. He has shown a lot of consistency this season and maintained a good physical condition. He is very strong but he also has a lot of quality."
The Italian coach also claimed that the emergence of youngsters like Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini and Nemanja Matic could prevent him from having to do any business in the January transfer market.
"This match showed we are in a very good condition because we had a lot of injuries before this game," said Ancelotti.
"But our play was just the same. We put some young players in this team and in January if we maintain this condition, it is not necessary to buy other players. They are very good young players and I will use them in the future this season."
Kakuta made his debut and looked completely at home in the top flight. He was originally suspended for four months when FIFA imposed their transfer ban on the club in September for inducing him to breach his contract with Lens two years ago.
But the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the bans until the outcome of Chelsea's appeal has been heard in full and Kakuta seized the chance to shine when he replaced Nicolas Anelka in the second half.
"Kakuta has a lot of talent and he showed that in 30 minutes," said Ancelotti. "He is young and he has to improve and work. After two or three weeks of his ban he had some difficulty because he is very young. But we had him train with the first team and now he is happy. I hope he will do better in the future."
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