Chelsea maul Ipswich while Beckham may still join Spurs

Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, admits his team have not yet turned the corner after their worst run of form for almost 15 years.

Chelsea forgot about their Premier League woes yesterday with a 7-0 FA Cup thrashing of Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge, but Carlo Ancelotti, their manager, admits his team have not yet turned the corner after their worst run of form for almost 15 years.

Chelsea began their defence of the trophy they have won for the past two seasons in emphatic fashion against the managerless visitors having won just one of their previous nine league games.

Ancelotti's decision to continue last season's policy of fielding some youngsters in the early rounds of the cup did not backfire, with Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard scoring twice.

Salomon Kalou also found the net and Nicolas Anelka ended the goal drought that has coincided with Chelsea's two months of misery. Ipswich's Carlos Edwards also scored an own goal.

Ancelotti, who has twice been given votes of confidence by Roman Abramovich, the club's billionaire owner, in the past fortnight, said: "We needed to have this kind of performance. The result was good and we did a lot of things well in this game - the performance of the team, the strikers scoring again.

"We don't have to be excited. But, obviously, with this victory, our confidence will improve. We have to wait to say everything is OK."

Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp insisted Tottenham Hotspur have not given up hope of signing David Beckham.

A loan move for the former England captain had been described by Redknapp as a "no-goer" earlier in the day, but his tone changed after Tottenham's 3-0 FA Cup third round win over Charlton Athletic thanks to a goal from Andros Townsend and a Jermain Defoe double.

After a week of negotiations between Tottenham and Beckham's parent club, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Redknapp initially said that an eight-week loan for the midfielder had fallen through because of "insurance issues".

Redknapp's assertion was followed by a statement on Spurs' website, announcing that the 35-year-old would join the club -but only to train for a month as he aims to keep fit during the MLS close season.

However, Redknapp appeared to backtrack on his previous statement. When asked after the game if a deal could still happen, the Spurs boss replied: "I don't honestly know. That's being done above my head. Hopefully it could still happen. The situation is ongoing."

It was thought that the Galaxy were demanding an insurance fee for the former Manchester United man after he picked up an Achilles injury during last year's loan spell at AC Milan, however that is not the case.

It is understood the reason behind the impasse in the deal is because Spurs are unwilling to pay the percentage of his wages that the Americans are demanding.