Carlo Ancelotti is a bit short of defenders for tomorrows game against Stoke City, and he will pick his first Chelsea team that hasn’t got his captain John Terry on the teamsheet, for the first time since his arrival at Stamford Bridge, but he thinks that he has got an able deputy in Branislav Ivanovich.
The Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole was in the last Chelsea team to win the Premiership, under Jose Mourinho, and he is aware that trophies have been hard to come by since the “Special One” left for Inter Milan, but he believes that to forget about Jose, Chelsea need to get the title this season.
“The fact we have not won the title since Mourinho is probably hanging over us,” Cole said.
The Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is sure that the home supporters can spur the team onto the Premiership title, by giving them the kind of support that was in evidence when Chelsea beat Bolton 1-0 last week.
“We have done well at home,” Drogba said. “You never know what can happen, games are difficult now. Some teams are trying to save lives but some teams are playing for little and can enjoy themselves, and sometimes then you play better.
The Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne has eally enjoyed his loan period at Mick McCarthy’s Wolves team, and feels that he has grown up as he gained more Premiership experience.
“I want to do the best I can for Wolves to get them safe and then concentrate on where I’m going to be next season,” Mancienne said.
According to a report in todays Mail, the young AC Milan striker Pato is set to join Chelsea this summer in £43m deal. Carlo Ancelotti’s old club are being reported as in financial difficulties and the easiest way for them to balance the books is to sell the young Brazilian on to the highest bidder.
The veteran Chelsea defender Paolo Ferreira is desperate for Chelsea to make sure that they win the Premiership title before any thought of the FA Cup Final.
He thinks that the League must be the number one priority so they can go to Wembley as champions, and he won’t be happy otherwise.
“I think it would be an anti-climax in a way, because we are three years now without winning the league and of course we are not happy,” Ferreira said.
Chelsea have received another double injury blow as both John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien are ruled out for the rest of the season.
Mikel was taken off against Spurs with a tear in his knee, and said after the game: “It’s a little tear in the knee meniscus,”
“I won’t play this weekend and the doctors say it will take about three weeks to heal, although there will be no surgery.”
The young Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero is now ready to leave the club that made him into a star, and has been discussing the relative merits of joining the three main contenders for his signature, Chelsea, Man City and Inter Milan, and he has come out clearly in favour of a move to Stamford Bridge.
“Chelsea are a great club. They have become one of the most feared in Europe over recent years,” he said.
Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal have all slipped up at various times this season in the ding-dong battle for the Premiership trophy, and after Chelsea’s defeat to Spurs on Saturday it looked like it was wide open yet again.
But Arsenal needed to take all three points at Wigan to take themselves back to within three points of the leaders, and they looked extremely comfortable at 2-0 up with just ten minutes left to play.
The Brazilian youngster Neymar Da Silva may only be 18 years-old, but it is already being hotly tipped as the “new Brazilian Messi”, and the Brazil national team coach Dunga is being urged from all sides to find a place for him in the squad to take to South Africa for the World Cup Finals this summer.
