Joe Cole could play for Chelsea today against Blackburn!

The Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole is close to full recovery from his cruciate ligament and cartilage surgery, and believes he is ready to play a part in the first team again, but he is not wanting to rush into things.

“I don’t want to put pressure on myself.” he said. “When I am coming back in, I just try to do what I can. It might be the day when I have a good game, or I might need a few more games to reach my level. I played one game already against QPR, a good game, and I am in a position now where I know it is coming, and it might be today.”

He admitted that he will still need time to adjust, even if he plays a whole game today. “It is staggered. You can go and score a world-class goal and everyone says he is back and it isn’t the case. It is a process, you can have a good game, you can have a bad game and the only way to get that consistency is to play through it.”

He then said it had been a hard rehabilitation, but he is determined to come back even stronger than before. He has broken his leg before and thought that this time it had been more difficult. “This is much more difficult than when I was a kid. It wasn’t as long, the rehab was different and this was two operations. You deal with it as best you can and I am fully determined, I have done so much work, I know I’ll come back stronger because I always do. I know I also need to be patient as well.”

Well let us all hope that he is back to his previous best. He is exactly the type of player we need to play behind Drogba and Anelka at the head of the diamond.