Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien insists the club can cope without its African contingent in January.

The Blues will lose Essien, strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou as well as Nigerian John Mikel Obi to the African Nations Cup in Angola during that month.

But although Chelsea can now buy players in the January after the suspension of their FIFA transfer ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Essien is adamant the current squad can overcome their absence.

"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."

Meanwhile, Chelsea have sent their best wishes to former goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini after the 36-year-old Italian was injured in a road accident earlier today.

Cudicini, now with Tottenham, fractured his wrists and injured his pelvis after the player's BMW superbike collided with a Ford Fiesta on Forest Road, Walthamstow at 10.30am.

The former Chelsea star's injuries were initially described by police as 'possibly life-changing'.

A police spokesperson confirmed: "A 36-year-old male suffered injuries described as possibly life-changing and was taken to an East London hospital for further assessment and treatment."

A spokesperson for Tottenham, who later confirmed his injuries, said: "We can confirm Carlo Cudicini was involved in a road accident this morning. The club doctor is with him at hospital."

The female driver and a child passenger walked away from the car, which was described as a 'write off', and did not need hospital treatment.

Cudicini arrived at White Hart Lane last January having been signed on a free transfer after a decade at Chelsea.

A statement on Chelsea's website read: "Chelsea Football Club sends our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to Carlo Cudicini who has been involved in a road accident today."