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Two
points off the lead in the Premier League and through to the Champions
League knockout phase does not look like a crisis but something is not
right at Chelsea and coach Carlo Ancelotti is starting to worry.

On Saturday the
Premier League champions were booed off at Stamford Bridge having spent
the last few minutes desperately defending to hang on to a 1-1 draw
against an Everton team who were thumped 4-1 at home by West Bromwich
Albion last week.

Chelsea’s draw
allowed Arsenal to climb above them into top spot after they beat
Fulham 2-1, with Manchester United also still a point ahead after their
game at Blackpool was frozen off.

“I am disappointed.
I am angry … the first half I think it was good, there was good
spirit. The second half was totally different … we lost the idea of
playing our own football,” Ancelotti told reporters.

“I don’t understand
why we changed, it was just long ball. We have a particular kind of
football and we should stay with that,” added the Italian.

“We didn’t and it’s
difficult to understand why. Obviously I’m worried, we have to do
better.” Ancelotti’s men have now taken just five points from the last
18.

Defeats by
Liverpool, Sunderland and Birmingham City were followed by last week’s
1-1 draw at Newcastle United, with a 1-0 home win over Fulham their
solitary Premier League success since October.

It is lucky for the
champions that all their rivals have also dropped points unexpectedly
during the same period or they could already have been cut adrift.

Not only are they not winning, they are not playing well.

Beckford equaliser

On Saturday they
led with a first-half penalty by Didier Drogba, just about the only
time he looked interested all day, but shipped a late equaliser to
Jermaine Beckford.

“We’re actually a
bit disappointed not to have gone on and won it,” said Everton manager
David Moyes after his players showed far more appetite for the battle.

Ancelotti bemoaned
the lack of leadership in his team last week but even the return of
captain John Terry and midfield dynamo Michael Essien could not instil
any noticeable will to win on Saturday.

The Chelsea coach,
who swept to a Premier League and FA Cup double in his first season in
charge, is clearly unhappy with what he is seeing in his second
campaign.

“I knew a difficult moment would arrive but I didn’t expect it to last so long,” said Ancelotti. “It’s too long.

“I saw the players
looking worried, afraid and that’s not our kind of football.” Although
nobody at Chelsea is willing to say it, the unexpected departure of
popular assistant coach Ray Wilkins at the start of the poor run and
other subsequent staffing reshuffles appear to have undermined morale.

With midfield
talisman Frank Lampard out of action since August, Terry struggling for
fitness and Drogba going through illness, injury and then apparent
disinterest, there seems a real lack of cohesion and the next month
could make or break Chelsea’s title defence.

They travel to
Olympique Marseille in a Champions League dead rubber on Wednesday and
then face Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane next weekend.

The home showdown with Manchester United is on Dec. 19 followed by a
trip to Arsenal and a home game with in-form Bolton Wanderers over the
Christmas period.