Under an Italian coach, Chelsea are bucking the trend by pocketing a hatful of goals, writes DOMINIC FIFIELD

CARLO ANCELOTTI could offer no real explanation. The Italian surveyed a goal tally the like of which Chelsea, as a top-flight side, have not revelled in since the mid-1960s and summoned something approaching a bemused shrug as if contemplating where it had all gone so wrong. “I don’t consider myself an attacking coach,” he said. “I am Italian, and the mindset of Italian football is defensive. The team that wins Serie A is not usually the side that scores the most, but the one that concedes the least. But, here, we are in England.”

At Old Trafford this lunchtime, the division’s most prolific side have an opportunity to wrest back the advantage in the title race.

If Chelsea were unnerved by their Champions League elimination by Internazionale in a stuttering six-week period, then their recovery in their past two games has been as timely as it was stunning.

Portsmouth and Aston Villa, the latter who started last Saturday with the joint best defensive record in the division, were dismissed to the tune of 12 goals in two matches, swelling the team’s tally to 82 in the league and 115 in competitive fixtures this term.

What made the thrashing of Villa all the more remarkable was that it was conducted with Didier Drogba, the club’s leading scorer with 30 goals this season, putting his feet up on the home bench. In his absence, the 4-2-3-1 formation used at Fratton Park was moulded into a Christmas tree 4-3-2-1, Nicolas Anelka taking the lone striker’s brief, and Chelsea were still untouchable.

Frank Lampard is enjoying one of his trademark scoring bursts and boasts 21 goals. Florent Malouda, the team’s most improved player, has scored five in five and 13 this season, dazzling as he rips forward down the left. There is pace, power and panache in this side which is propelling their pursuit of domestic honours.

Drogba’s absence last weekend was temporary and the Ivorian will return today, despite the kick on the knee suffered in training this week and the hernia that has been troubling him for four months. Yet, having plundered at will with midfielders supplementing a lone forward, the Chelsea manager must consider whether the front pairing with Anelka, last year’s leading Premier League scorer and so impressive at times this term, is his best option.

The Frenchman sustained this team while Drogba was at the Africa Cup of Nations but has not scored since January in the victory at Burnley some 11 matches ago, though he has retained a creative spark through his lean spell. Anelka would normally command a place in Ancelotti’s first-choice line-up – he was excellent against Villa – yet the 31-year-old has never been comfortable when asked to play in effect as a winger. At United, the inclusion of Joe Cole or Salomon Kalou on the right, or even the incorporation of Michael Ballack in midfield, would not be a surprise.

It is a pleasant dilemma for Ancelotti to confront. “Up to December, Drogba and Anelka did a fantastic job together,” he said. “Everyone was surprised at the start of the season that they could play together, but they have experience, quality and strength and did very well, if not in the last few games.”

The possible omission of Anelka is less of a surprise given how productive this team is proving from midfield. It has been Chelsea’s fluid movement that has been truly irresistible at times this season, Deco’s recent unexpected return to form offering rhythmic passing while the energy around him unsettles opponents. The lone forward has rarely been short of close assistance. Ancelotti worked with the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho at Milan, yet he described Lampard as “unique”. “He is very dangerous,” he said.

So much of this first campaign in English football has proved an eye-opener for the Italian, and not least the attack-minded play he has coaxed from his side. His baffled reaction to his side’s reputation as great entertainers suggests all this is so out of character. “I do like to hurt the opposition, of course, but I like defence first and foremost, and balance,” added Ancelotti.

“That is the first priority, to avoid conceding goals and counter-attacks. But this team’s idea is to attack and control the game that way. This is the most difficult game to achieve that, but we all know that the destiny of the title will be in the hands of the side that wins this match.”