SOCCER:CARLO ANCELOTTI has angrily urged his underachieving players to "wake up" after admitting Chelsea had been rendered unrecognisable with fear gripping their play as they endure their worst league run in a decade.

The champions slipped to third in the table with the spluttering draw against Everton on Saturday, their first-half lead eroded by a lacklustre display after the interval that left the manager perplexed and angered on the sidelines.

Not since the tail-end of Gianluca Vialli’s reign and the beginning of Claudio Ranieri’s tenure have so few points been taken from six matches, and Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Arsenal are their next three league opponents.

“We have to wake up from this moment,” said Ancelotti. “We can move on but what we are doing is not enough. We have to work harder. I have to understand what happened in the second half because it was poor. I’m not happy to see my team play like they did in that second half. We have to change our ideas.

“I don’t feel good at the moment. Not just because we drew but because we didn’t play well. I was obviously disappointed with the result but I was not happy with the play. We are working to play a kind of football that is totally different to the way we played in the second half – we lost our idea of how to play football and started playing long balls – so we have to ask why this happened.

“I saw a team that was afraid, scared and unable to play our football, unable to play easy passes. It was just long ball. This is not our aim.”

Roman Abramovich was not at Stamford Bridge to witness the latest stumble in Chelsea’s title defence but the manager concedes he feels pressure to allay the slump and was not sleeping well as the season threatens to unravel.

“No, I’m not relaxed at all and I don’t sleep well. I maintain confidence in my players. I maintain trust. But it’s not a good moment, not for them or for me. We have to stay together and not be searching to find out who is guilty. Usually when you have a difficult moment you want to find out who is to blame. It’s a moment in which we are all not doing enough to win games. We have to do more because this is the only way that I know.

“I’m not worried about my job. I know we have to play better and get better results. But it’s the decision of the club and I don’t feel pressure over this.

“Rather, there are lots of other things to worry about: we are not playing well or having good results, and we are no longer at the top of the table. In my career I have been through lots of difficult moments but I know that the way out of them is to stay together and work hard on the training ground. We still have the time to come back and play our football, to come back and be competitive in the league and in the Champions League.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was hoping the bookmakers are as wrong about his side’s title odds as they were over England’s doomed World Cup bid after watching his side go top of the Premier League by beating Fulham.

Wenger acknowledged his side are “not favourites” to finish as champions come May but insisted they are definitely good enough to do so.

Saturday’s unconvincing 2-1 win over Fulham failed to move the bookies, who still have Arsenal behind Manchester United and Chelsea in the title stakes.

Yet, they also had England as favourites to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup – admittedly, eventual winners Russia did head the market for a period as well – before they secured a humiliating two votes.

The only statistic Wenger was interested in was the Premier League table, which shows his side one point clear – especially after they found themselves five adrift following last month’s shock home defeat against Newcastle.

“We were five points behind the leaders and we had to go to Wolves and to Everton,” the Arsenal manager said. “So, three weeks later, to be top shows we have kept going and given it our best shot. We are not favourites but we are where we are.”

Arsenal won despite showing the same defensive frailties which led to back-to-back home defeats against Newcastle and Tottenham.

Wenger admitted such lapses last season were fatal for his side but suggested that may not be the case this term. He said of the previous campaign: “Overall, I think our defensive record was not good enough to win the title.”