Only three Chelsea players who started the FA Cup quarter-final at the Ricoh Stadium on Saturday played at the same stage at Oakwell this time last year. This has less to do with any mass turnover of personnel in the squad than in the mentality of the man at the helm. Whereas Avram Grant was muddling his way through to the exit door, compromising as he sought silverware on three fronts and ending with none, Guus Hiddink has come in with a simple short-term brief: to win everything.

Chelsea’s interim manager has the squad to give him a chance, of course, but he has brought the clarity of thinking that has marked him out as one of Europe’s premier coaches over the past two decades. Notwithstanding the proximity of a European cliffhanger away to Juventus tomorrow, Hiddink selected his strongest available team on Saturday to see off the Coca-Cola Championship side and win a fifth successive game since he took charge.

Ask Didier Drogba what is behind the transformation and he relates less to the extra technical training that Hiddink has introduced for the strikers and more to consistent team selection. Having Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho and Nicolas Anelka just short of match fitness made the manager’s job easier, but he has made a positive out of the situation.

Drogba said that Chelsea had learnt from last year’s defeat by Barnsley but, having flounced his way through the first half of a season disrupted by injury, he is clear how Hiddink has helped him. “He has picked me,” Drogba said. “Then I know what I have to do. When you are scoring goals, your confidence is getting higher. The more you play, the more chances you have to score. Of course, I was out with injuries and when I came back it was very difficult for me. That’s football. I feel 100 per cent now.”

Drogba did not wait on ceremony when Ben Turner’s misjudged header left him one on one with Scott Dann early in Saturday’s game. He nicked the ball off the Coventry City captain, rounded the goalkeeper and wasted no time as defenders rushed back, shooting, left-footed, high into the net. It was his third goal in four games, doubling his season’s tally.

Chris Coleman, the Coventry manager, deserves credit for his game plan, asking Freddy Eastwood to restrict John Obi Mikel and his two other forwards to limit the forays of José Bosingwa and Ashley Cole. Before Eastwood tired, this left Coventry with three on two in the middle of the park but, while Leon Best, their masked marauder, flitted past Alex and John Terry to fire over the crossbar, chances were inevitably rare.

“They haven’t just got good players, they’ve got world-class players all over the pitch,” Coleman said. “They have won six games on the bounce and it’s like they are back to where they were before [under José Mourinho]. They were excellent today, fantastic. They’ve got a huge game on Tuesday but they must go to Juve full of confidence. For them to turn up mob-handed was a huge compliment.”

Coleman made a big deal of Drogba and Alex, having left the field after banging heads, being allowed straight back on but this was a nonsense because Steve Bennett, the referee, had done the same when the excellent Aron Gunnarsson had required treatment.

The disadvantage should have been Chelsea’s, with only nine men to defend Gunnarsson’s long throw, but instead they broke with disarming speed for Drogba to release Ricardo Quaresma, who crossed for Alex to score.

Coventry (4-3-1-2): K Westwood 6 - S Wright 6, B Turner 4, S Dann 5, M Hall 6 - J Henderson 4, A Gunnarsson 7, M Doyle 5 - F Eastwood 5 - L Best 7, C Morrison 5. Substitute: G Beuzelin 5 (for Doyle, 59min). Not used: A Marshall, E Ward, I Osbourne, J McPake, R Simpson, K Thornton.

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): P Cech 6 - J Bosingwa 6, Alex 7, J Terry 6, A Cole 5 - J O Mikel 6 - S Kalou 5, M Ballack 7, F Lampard 7, F Malouda 5 - D Drogba 8. Substitutes: R Quaresma 6 (for Kalou, 46min), M Essien 5 (for Mikel, 65), F Di Santo (for Drogba, 80). Not used: Hilário, R Carvalho, J Belletti, M Mancienne.