Didier Drogba will make his Premier League return against Hull on Tuesday, reports Carlo Ancelotti.

The manager has his leading goalscorer fit and available again after being absent on international duty at the African Cup of Nations for the past month, and intends to reunite the Ivorian with strike partner Nicolas Anelka at the KC Stadium.

'It will be a similar team to against Burnley, Didier will play from the beginning, and also Deco and Ricardo Carvalho had recovery time against Burnley and will play from the start,' said the Italian.

Carvalho is likely to partner John Terry in the centre of defence, with one other change in the back four still possible, depending on Ashley Cole, who limped off at Turf Moor on Saturday evening after a robust challenge from Clarets defender Clarke Carlisle.

'Ashley Cole we don't know, we will take a decision tomorrow because he had a problem on his ankle and we have to wait for tomorrow,' Ancelotti said.

Hull were Ancelotti's first league opponents in England, eventually surrendering to Didier Drogba's injury-time winner at Stamford Bridge on the first day of the season back in August. Since then, the 50-year-old coach believes he has developed a stronger understanding of the English game.

'It was the first game, now we have played a lot of games in England and I have a good experience,' he told the official Chelsea website. 'I knew very well the top four but small teams I did not know, now I have that experience. Every game is difficult here, around the game there is a very good atmosphere and when you play away it is more difficult to win.'

It is no doubt a maxim he will be reminding his players of before they step out in the north-east on Tuesday evening, and has called for focus ahead of the meeting with Phil Brown's strugglers, currently entrenched in the relegation zone without a league win since November.

'Hull are very able on the long ball, on the head, and we have to pay attention to set-pieces, but we want to do our game,' he maintained, refuting suggestions that he may already have one eye on the forthcoming weekend's meeting with Arsenal.

'It is no problem to play this game before Arsenal, now we are in a good moment and the players are fit, so it is not bad to continue to play when you are in a good moment, the momentum is very good,' he explained.

'The Arsenal game is some days away, we want to prepare every game like a final because every game is very important and we have time after to think about the next game against Arsenal. We have to stay focused against Hull because if we are not we can have a problem.'

You can follow tomorrow night's game via Chelsea Mobile, with the full 90 minutes available on Chelsea TV from midnight after the game.