Chelsea's players have faith in Carlo Ancelotti, says Salomon Kalou

Carlo Ancelotti retains the complete faith of Chelsea's players, according to Salomon Kalou, who argues that the Italian's reputation has been enhanced by his "calm" reaction to the recent league slump and Ray Wilkins's surprise dismissal as assistant first-team coach. The champions have lost three of their past four league games, defeats which have led to Manchester United drawing level on points at the top of the Premier League, and seen Arsenal and Manchester City close to within touching distance of the summit. Victory, albeit unconvincing, against MSK Zilina last night has at least arrested the decline, though Florent Malouda admitted following that win that Chelsea had lost the fear factor for visitors to Stamford Bridge, with injuries and suspension eating into their squad. Wilkins's sacking, a decision made by the hierarchy and against Ancelotti's better instincts, left the manager dismayed, though he has not allowed his disappointment to influence his approach on the training pitch. "The manager protects the players, and that is important," said Kalou. "When you play for Chelsea and you don't win for two games, and the team is under pressure, you don't want the players to be scared. When you are scared it is difficult to perform, so what is good about Carlo is that he has that belief that everything is going to be good if we work hard and train well. "Last year we had difficult times too, but Carlo stayed calm and didn't change anything, and we won two trophies. He is the same now. He brings that self-belief which keeps the pressure off the team, and that's good for us. "We have never doubted that the manager would be here. I don't think when you lose two games the manager is under pressure. We are still first in the Champions League [group] and the Premier League, and the manager has shown he can win the Premier League because we did it last year. We are a big team and every team wants to beat Chelsea, so we have to be patient. We know we can play to a high level and that is the level we showed at the beginning of the season. But Carlo is very important to us. "He doesn't put pressure on the players. We are still training in the same way, still doing the same things. He has brought his own calm to the team, which helps us play to our full potential. There is a period when not everything goes the way you want and that is where we are now, but the game against Zilina was an opportunity to get some confidence back. Once we have the confidence, we can play to our best. We are enjoying working with him. He is a good coach, a great guy and it is a real joy working with him. We believe that we are going to have a great season with him. We will just focus on the games and try to win the games." Ancelotti has been in contact with the owner, Roman Abramovich, over the past few days, with all parties now seeking to get through a trying period of unnecessary upheaval which strained relations. That has coincided with the absence of key players such as Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and John Terry – who is unlikely to be involved at Newcastle United on Sunday as he continues to undergo treatment on a sciatic nerve complaint –, and with Michael Emenalo being installed as Wilkins's replacement. Form has deteriorated on the pitch, with the win over Zilina, Group F's weakest side by some distance, stodgy at best. Asked in the aftermath whether Chelsea had lost their fear factor in recent weeks, Malouda said: "Yes. Maybe teams have more confidence when they come here. Right now we have so many injuries and it's more difficult for us, physically and mentally. It's a period of the season where the games are more difficult. "But you can recover better after you win, which is why I'm so happy we beat Zilina. This is the moment when players have to come in and show their quality."