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Ray Wilkins may have to step in to act as Chelsea manager against Blackburn at Stamford Bridge tomorrow after Carlo Ancelotti's father was taken seriously ill.
Following the club's 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, Ancelotti flew back to Italy to be at the bedside of 86-year-old Giuseppe.
Wilkins, assistant first-team coach, said: "I sincerely hope Carlo will be back with us and his father's condition has improved. If that isn't the case then I will look after this team with no problem whatsoever. I spoke to Carlo last night. His father was stable and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
Ahead of the Blackburn game Wilkins has given his full support to Ricardo Carvalho, who played in the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
Chelsea conceded two sloppy goals from set plays and the Portugual defender appeared to be held responsible when he was named on the bench against Atletico.
But Wilkins said: "He wasn't dropped, he was rested. He played three games on the spin and also went away to play international football. We have been perfectly happy with the way Ricky has been playing.
"We made a couple of errors at set plays at Aston Villa, but every club does that and we will rectify them.
"Blackburn are doing very well and Sam Allardyce's sides will always cause massive threats from set plays, so we have to be rock solid.
"But we can't keep harping on about defeats. If you keep thinking about the one that got away then you will end up struggling."
Meanwhile, Atletico today sacked coach Abel Resino with their defeat at Chelsea proving the last straw after a run of one win from 10 games.
