With Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fabregas dominating the sports news the last two days, it could be easy to believe the injury wheel of fortune has turned in Chelsea's favour. Carlo Ancelotti dismisses the idea.
The loss of Manchester United and Arsenal's most revered players, for however long, has made Chelsea the favourites to take the league championship title according to some observers but as we prepare for a top of the table clash at Old Trafford, no-one at Cobham is taking comfort from the other teams' medical problems.
'Every team has a lot of injuries at the moment,' argues Ancelotti, 'and I would like that Manchester United could use Rooney and Fabregas could play for Arsenal if I could have my injured players ready to play.
'I want to remind everyone that we have out Michael Essien, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa, Branislav Ivanovic and also Ricardo Carvalho, so I don't know if we can claim advantage from injuries.'
Happily one injury problem the Chelsea manager doesn't have is Didier Drogba despite the player missing training on Tuesday and Wednesday. The cause was an accidental kick on the knee by Yury Zhirkov during one of the sessions.
'Drogba trained very well on Thursday and is fit to play,' Ancelotti reports.
'I think he will start against Manchester United. The other strikers did a fantastic job against Aston Villa but Drogba is a very important player for us.'
The back four will remain the same as the Villa game - Paulo Ferreira, Alex, John Terry and Zhirkov. The only player returning to the squad following injury is Juliano Belletti. He is back from Brazil where he underwent treatment on a knee problem and is fully recovered.
Ancelotti has expressed doubt over Michael Essien playing again for Chelsea this season. The midfielder is on the way back from knee surgery.
The loss of Manchester United and Arsenal's most revered players, for however long, has made Chelsea the favourites to take the league championship title according to some observers but as we prepare for a top of the table clash at Old Trafford, no-one at Cobham is taking comfort from the other teams' medical problems.
'Every team has a lot of injuries at the moment,' argues Ancelotti, 'and I would like that Manchester United could use Rooney and Fabregas could play for Arsenal if I could have my injured players ready to play.
'I want to remind everyone that we have out Michael Essien, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa, Branislav Ivanovic and also Ricardo Carvalho, so I don't know if we can claim advantage from injuries.'
Happily one injury problem the Chelsea manager doesn't have is Didier Drogba despite the player missing training on Tuesday and Wednesday. The cause was an accidental kick on the knee by Yury Zhirkov during one of the sessions.
'Drogba trained very well on Thursday and is fit to play,' Ancelotti reports.
'I think he will start against Manchester United. The other strikers did a fantastic job against Aston Villa but Drogba is a very important player for us.'
The back four will remain the same as the Villa game - Paulo Ferreira, Alex, John Terry and Zhirkov. The only player returning to the squad following injury is Juliano Belletti. He is back from Brazil where he underwent treatment on a knee problem and is fully recovered.
Ancelotti has expressed doubt over Michael Essien playing again for Chelsea this season. The midfielder is on the way back from knee surgery.
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