Chelsea v Man Utd

Source: BBC.CO.UK SPORTS

Chelsea have two injury doubts ahead of Sunday's game with midfielder Yuri Zhirkov doubtful with a knee injury.

Midfielder Joe Cole is still out with a knee ligament injury but Michael Ballack (toe) could be passed fit.

Manchester United are without defenders Nemanja Vidic (calf), Wes Brown (thigh) and Gary Neville (groin).

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson must decide whether to choose Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak in goal with keeper Edwin Van der Sar out with a broken finger.

Ferguson is refusing to be drawn on who will replace Van der Sar on Sunday, and for the remaining eight weeks the Dutchman is absent for.

But in Kuszczak and Foster he knows he has two perfect understudies for the veteran Dutchman.

"I will speak to both of them about the situation," said Ferguson.

"We have a selection dilemma as to who plays in goal on Sunday. It is not an easy one for me."

With Vidic, Brown and Neville all injured a lot also rests on the shoulders of centre-back Rio Ferdinand to remain fit.

And despite the injury problems he encountered towards the end of last season, Ferdinand says he can be relied on to lead United's defence.

"I am fine, there are no problems," said Ferdinand.

"I have not missed any training sessions this pre-season, not missed any games and played a lot of minutes.

"I am delighted and feeling good. Long may that continue this season.

"The club have been really good. I've had rest and maintenance, a good pre-season tour and training. That's the most important thing. "

For new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti the game will be the first time he has managed a side at Wembley.

Ancelotti took over as Chelsea manager in the summer having previously spent eight years as boss of AC Milan.

And the Italian is relishing the opportunity of facing the Premier League champions in English football's traditional curtain raiser.

"I think we are ready to start this season against Manchester United on Sunday," said Ancelotti.

"It will be a very difficult match but we are excited and very happy to play at Wembley.

"It will be the first time for me to be at Wembley. It is not a friendly game, it is very important for us. We play against a great team. They were in the final of the Champions League last season.

"We have respect for this team but we want to win and play well. We want to put our quality on the pitch. It will be an interesting match."

With Cole's injury long-term, Zhirkov is likely to be the only absentee on Sunday from Ancelotti's pre-season squad.

"Zhirkov is the only player with a problem," said Ancelotti.

"He has a knee injury. He didn't train in the last few days and I don't know if he can play Sunday. He is the only one. Maybe we have to wait two days and then we will see if it is possible for him to play."



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Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Belletti, Alex, Terry, Carvalho, Mancienne, Bosingwa, A Cole, Ballack, Sturridge, Mikel, Deco, Lampard, Anelka, Drogba, Ivanovic, Kalou, Ferreira, Malouda.

Man Utd (from): Foster, Kuszczak, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Gibson, Nani, Giggs, Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, Macheda, Tosic, Fabio, Cleverley, De Laet

John Terry set to join top earners after Chelsea reward captain’s loyalty

Source: Matt Hughes (Timesonline.Co.Uk)


Chelsea have offered John Terry a new four-year contract worth £151,000 a week, which he is expected to sign before the start of the Barclays Premier League season in nine days’ time.

The Chelsea captain publicly committed his future to the club last week by rejecting the opportunity to move to Manchester City and will be rewarded with an improved deal with an additional year, tying him to Stamford Bridge until 2013.

Terry’s new deal will re-establish him as the highest-paid player at the club alongside Frank Lampard, who received a significant pay rise when he turned down the chance to join Inter Milan by signing a five-year contract with Chelsea 12 months ago.

Although structured slightly differently, the contracts of the England internationals have effectively been synchronised, with Chelsea delighted to have secured their two most influential players for the rest of their careers. The club have been given verbal assurances that they do not wish to play for anyone else.

Robinho is the only Premier League player to earn more than Terry and Lampard, by about £9,000 a week, but such a status for the pair has been hard earned despite the riches at the disposal of Roman Abramovich, the owner, with Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack top of the payroll until recently. Terry has expressed an interest in staying at Chelsea at the end of his playing career and will begin studying for his coaching badge when time permits during this season.

He signed his previous deal only after lengthy negotiations two years ago and, in ordinary circumstances, would not even begin talks on an extension until next summer, but after his decision to snub an offer of £200,000 a week for five years from City, Chelsea were happy to break from protocol. This latest deal has come together far quicker, with Terry speaking to Abramovich on the club’s pre-season tour to the United States and thrashing out the details with Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, since returning to London.

Terry’s decision to commit to Chelsea is a huge boost for Carlo Ancelotti, the new manager, but the club’s willingness to give the captain an extra year also represents vindication for the player himself. The 28-year-old has been hit by a series of back problems in recent years and there were fears that he would struggle to play on into his thirties. However, his fitness record improved last season as he started 51 matches.

Terry has been given a thorough physical evaluation by Chelsea’s medical staff this summer, which he passed with flying colours. Indeed, given the success of the holistic methods used by Bruno Di Micheli, the sports scientist who accompanied the manager from Milan, Ancelotti is confident of extending Terry’s career. Di Micheli worked in the famous Milanello lab for 25 years and played an integral part in helping players such as Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta to play until they were approaching their forties.

Chelsea continued the process of consolidating their squad yesterday when Didier Drogba signed a two-year extension, ensuring that he is contracted to the club until 2012. Florent Malouda has also signed a similar extension this summer, while talks are taking place with Ashley Cole and are about to start with Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou.

Drogba, who has scored 94 goals in 216 games for Chelsea, cited winning the Champions League as his remaining big ambition, even if he will miss the first three games of this European campaign through suspension.

“I have decided to extend my contract with Chelsea for two extra years and I am very happy and proud to continue to wear the blue of Chelsea until then,” Drogba said. “I stay because I am ambitious to pick up lots more trophies, regain the Premier League title, win cups. It’s for this that I have extended my time at Chelsea. But my No 1 objective is to win the Champions League. I am convinced that this year we can go to the end and finally lift this trophy.”

Money talkers

Barclays Premier League’s top earners (a week):

Robinho (Man City)£160,000

F Lampard (Chelsea) £151,000

J Terry (Chelsea) £151,000

E Adebayor (Man City) £140,000

C Tévez (Man City) £140,000

Drogba renews contract with Chelsea

Source: Reuters International

Chelsea's Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba [ Images ] has signed a new three-year contract, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.

"I have decided to extend my contract with Chelsea for two extra years and I am very happy and proud to continue to wear the blue of Chelsea until then,' said Drogba, who had a year to run on his previous deal.

The 31-year-old, whose new contract with the FA Cup holders runs until 2012, joined Chelsea from Ligue One side Olympique Marseille in 2004 when Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho paid over 20 million pounds ($33.95 million) for him.

The Ivorian had previously been linked with a move to Serie A champions Inter Milan where Mourinho now manages.

"I stay because I am ambitious to pick up lots more trophies, regain the Premier League title, win cups, it's for this that I have extended my time at Chelsea," Drogba told the club website (www.chelseafc.com).

In his five seasons at the west London [ Images ] club Drogba has scored 94 goals in 216 appearances winning two Premier League titles, two FA Cups and two League cups.

"But my number one objective is to win the Champions League [ Images ]. I am convinced that this year we can go to the end and finally lift this trophy," he said.

Drogba is likely to figure for Chelsea against Manchester United [ Images ] in the Community shield at Wembley stadium on Sunday.

The traditional curtain raiser to the start of the Premier League season will be Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti's [ Images ] first competitive game in charge of the Londoners.

Chelsea To Lodge Bid Of £38m Plus Deco For Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero

Source: Alan Dawson, Goal.com

Atletico Madrid may face a laborious battle in keeping star asset Sergio Aguero at Vicente Calderon as a bid for the player from Chelsea edges closer to the Spanish club's £50 million valuation.

The Stamford Bridge side, under the new management of Carlo Ancelotti, are readying an offer of £38m plus a player - Deco, according to The Daily Mail. It is believed the inclusion of the Portuguese playmaker is to compensate for the £12m difference.

Aguero, affectionately nicknamed 'El Kun' due to his likeness to a Japanese cartoon character - Kum Kum - is just one prong of a trident being targeted by Chelsea for summer recruitment.

The club have been relatively inactive in the market thus far, having signed Ross Turnbull, Daniel Sturridge and Yuri Zhirkov; yet Aguero, along with Bayern Munich attacker Franck Ribery and AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo, have also been sounded out for potential switches.

Prior to captain John Terry's decision to declare his desire to remain at Stamford Bridge, he requested assurances that the club's ambitions matched his own, to which owner Roman Abramovich implied that Chelsea had been operating in the market, only for their estimations of the players to fall just short of the selling club's valuation. A £100m budget is reportedly the amount that Ancelotti has to play with.

The Blues will face competition for Aguero should negotiations for the highly-rated forward reach an advanced stage, as Manchester United are also keen.


Deco will favour a return to Spain, where he helped sustain the name he made for himself at FC Porto with Catalan outfit Barcelona, as he has struggled to establish himself in Chelsea's line-up.

Report: Chelsea Plan £100m Raid For Ribery, Pirlo & Aguero

Source: Owen Watson, Goal.com

Chelsea are planning to submit bids for Bayern Munich's Frank Ribery and Athletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero, according to a report in The Daily Mail.




Roman Abramovich is set to make a signal of the club's intent following club captain John Terry seeking assurances from the Chelsea hierarchy that the club would seek to bolster their ranks.




The report states that manager Carlo Ancelotti wants Milan's Andrea Pirlo to play in the holding midfield role in his diamond formation, with a fee of £12m plus Claudio Pizarro being mooted as possibly enough to persuade the Italian giants to do business.




Chelsea are then set to battle it out with Manchester United for the signature of Aguero, who is rated at £45m by his current club, Athletico Madrid. It is claimed Aguero was seeking wages of £200k a week to move to the Premier League, and this had initially cooled Chelsea's interest.




Meanwhile, the club are also planning to offer more than £40m to tempt Ribery to Stamford Bridge, and believe Bayern Munich will be tempted into selling as the transfer deadline approaches. Bayern had previously insisted Ribery would see his contract out at the club.