Essien:Chelsea can cope

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien says the club can cope without their African contingent in January when the African Cup of Nations begins in Angola.

 
The Blues will lose Essien, strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou as well as Nigerian John Mikel Obi.

 
However, the Ghanaian believes Chelsea have the strength-in-depth to cope with such losses.

 
"As you can see we've got a very big squad so they can cope without us and hopefully they will keep winning while we are away," said Essien.

 
"I love to represent my country and we can't change anything about that, we have to accept it and go over with our countries and once we are finished we will come back to our clubs do the job.

 
"I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to Angola so it's a new thing to me and I'm excited and looking forward to it and hopefully we can have a good tournament in Angola and win it.

 
"We've got some good players in the squad but we have to keep working hard and we will see what happens in Angola.

 
"We are in the two big tournaments and we did qualify easily for the World Cup. For Ghana it's never been easy but we made it good and we will see what will happen."

 
Chelsea host Wolverhampton Wanderers in their next Barclays Premier League match.

 
Source:premierleague.com