Revealed: The players Chelsea need to get title challenge back on track

By Martin Lipton in Mirror Football Blog

Published 06:00 29/12/10

With Chelsea's title challenge hanging by a thread, Roman Abramovich needs to dip into those deep pockets once more in order to provide support for Carlo Ancelotti's flailing flops. Here's my take on where he needs to strengthen, and who he needs to strengthen with:

Defence
A centre-half is essential - why was Ricardo Carvalho allowed to go? - with Bolton's £15million Gary Cahill a better bet than £25m David Luiz at Benfica. That signing is the most likely, allowing Branislav Ivanovic to return to right-back but Ancelotti knows he does not have a real right-sided full-back in his squad either.

Midfield
John Obi Mikel has gone backwards, Michael Essien struggling with a toe problem and with the club having never adequately replaced Claude Makelele, Ancelotti released Michael Ballack, Deco and Juliano Belletti without signing any alternatives. With Bastian Schweinsteiger shackled to Bayern Munich, the best option now might be getting Lassana Diarra, surplus to requirements at Real Madrid, to return to the Bridge - if Jose Mourinho will sell to his former club.

Attack
No right-sided pace has been a glaring hole and with few obvious domestic answers, maybe Marseilles could be persuaded to part with Mathieu Valbuena. Edin Dzeko and Fernando Torres have both been in Chelsea's sights, along with Brazilian youngster Neymar at Santos, yet Abramovich has shown no sign of willing to dig that deep into his copious pockets.