Carlo Ancelotti today predicted Ashley Cole will make the World Cup - after having surgery this afternoon.

Ancelotti revealed the England left-back was going under the knife, scheduled for 2pm today.

But with Fabio Capello anxiously hoping for positive news, it was provided by the Chelsea boss, who said: "It's bad news because Ashley is a very important player for us.

"I'm disappointed because Ashley is a very important player for us, but it can happen that a player gets an injury.

"I hope he recovers quickly and comes back before the end of the season. That's a realistic possibility. He will have surgery today and we hope to recuperate him quickly.

"In three months he will be ready to play, so for England he can play in the World Cup."

Ancelotti will rest Nicolas Anelka, Branislav Ivanovic, Florent Malouda and Petr Cech, along with skipper John Terry - in Dubai for summit talks with his wife - for tomorrow's FA Cup fifth round tie with Cardiff, although Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba will all play.

The Blues boss said: "The FA Cup is a very important competition. The players won it last year - I was not here - and we have a great opportunity to go forward in this competition.

"We know Cardiff will come to do their best. They have a good team and a lot of passion around them. We have to pay attention. We want to come back to win after the defeat against Everton.'

"The Cup is different here to in Italy. In Italy, the Italian Cup is not interesting for anybody. Nobody is interested in it: the players, the fans. The stadia are empty. It's different here."

In Cole's absence, £18million Russian Yuri Zhirkov will have an extended run in the side and Ancelotti added: "Zhirkov is another fantastic left-back and I have confidence that he will do a very good job.

"He's played very well in the last few games and has played very well at left-back as well as in midfield.

"We wanted to buy him in the summer because we felt he could be an alternative to Ashley. Now his moment has come and I think he will be fit to do his best."