Drogba has lost his automatic place in the side since the record-breaking signing of Torres, something he admitted this week he initially struggled to come to terms with.

But having held talks with Ancelotti, during which the Chelsea boss explained his rationale behind the move, the 33-year-old insisted he has come around to the idea of being in and out of the team for the remainder of the season.

Ancelotti said: "I was very happy with Didier said in his interviews.

"If the players understand that rotation is important for the team, that's important.

"It makes my job easier to manage the team if they understand that, and that means there's no problem."

Speculation about Drogba's future has been rife since the record-breaking £50million signing of Torres and the Ivorian, whose contract expires next year, has revealed he will hold further talks with the club at the end of the season.

The success of Ancelotti's rotation policy will be judged ultimately on the number of goals his strikers score.

So far, they have not managed a solitary goal between them in the Barclays Premier League since Torres made his debut against Liverpool almost six weeks ago.

Indeed, Nicolas Anelka's brace in the Champions League last-16 first leg at FC Copenhagen represents the only goals they have netted in any competition.

The collective lack of confidence in front of goal was laid bare in Wednesday night's second leg, when Chelsea squandered around a dozen gilt-edged chances.

Whether rotation has had an effect is debatable, but Ancelotti clearly does not think so as he prepares to recall Torres and Florent Malouda for tomorrow's crunch clash with Manchester City.

And he revealed his rotation policy extends beyond his forward line, with the January arrival of David Luiz and the imminent return of Alex from injury meaning the same now applies at the other end of the field.

"The most important thing is that we have four defenders, four centre-backs, and no other team in the world has their quality or experience," said Ancelotti.

"They're not guaranteed places, no. Sometimes they'll need to rest.

"We have to play eight or nine games in April, so it's impossible to think I can use just 11 players.

"I'll need 20 players to move through this moment."

April will define Chelsea's season, with six Premier League games sandwiched between their Champions League double-header against Manchester United.

Those six matches will mean a lot more if the champions can defeat City tomorrow and keep their slim hopes of a comeback in the title race alive.

Chelsea have lost their last three meetings with City, so it was no surprise to hear Ancelotti admit he would love them to axe Mario Balotelli tomorrow.

City boss Roberto Mancini is considering dropping the forward following his "stupid" sending-off in Thursday night's Europa League game against Dynamo Kiev.

Balotelli yesterday issued a formal apology to his team-mates for the costly red card, earned for planting his studs into the chest and thigh of Dynamo defender Goran Popov.

It remains to be seen whether the 20-year-old's contrition proves enough for him to keep his place but Ancelotti hopes not.

"He's a fantastic player so I'd prefer him to stay out," Ancelotti said.

"Technically, he's one of the best players out there."

Ancelotti was also hoping Mancini would also leave out the misfiring Carlos Tevez.

Argentina star Tevez has failed to score in his last seven games but he has tormented Chelsea since joining City in 2009, scoring four times in three successive victories against the Londoners.

"If they can go on holiday for two or three days, that would be good for us," said Ancelotti, who refused to be lured into a false sense of security by Tevez's recent drought.

"He's scored a lot of goals against us, and he remains a fine player. We have to pay particular attention to him."