Bertrand Quick To Deny Rumours!

It was probably only a matter of two weeks ago that rumours began to surface that our promising young full back, Ryan Bertrand, was, supposedly, wanting to sign for Reading on a permanent basis.

Bertrand an England U21 international who has been on loan with the Berkshire club all season, has made quite an impact with the club and pt in another sparkling display in the 6-0 thrashing of Peterborough this weekend.

However, rumours of a permanent departure, from Stamford Bridge, for the twenty year old, appear to have no substantiation with Bertrand quoted in the press as having remarked about the situation,

"Obviously there is some competition at Stamford Bridge and Ashley is there and he’s the best left back in the world. Then you’ve got Zhirkov who is an international."

"It’s important to be patient when you have those sort of players in front of you but hopefully my chance will come."

"We will sit down when I go back and see whether it is better for me to go on loan in the Championship or the Premier League, but I don’t have any problems coming back to Reading."

Obviously, it will be hard for Bertrand to make that breakthrough, especially when you consider the competition he has, but you just never know do you?

Cole Concentrating On Blues Before England

Joe Cole is focusing on winning the Barclays Premier League with Chelsea rather than the World Cup with England.

Cole has struggled to establish himself as a first-term regular under Carlo Ancelotti, but an impressive end to the season with the Blues - who are one point clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League - could yet see him force his way into Fabio Capello's World Cup squad.

The 28-year-old said: "My focus at the moment is just playing well for Chelsea. I don't like to talk about England because you can't talk yourself into an England squad. I just want to work hard and whatever happens happens."

He added: "It's obviously something I'd like to play in but at the moment I'm just concentrating on helping Chelsea win the title.

"I just want to keep playing well. I give everything in every game I play and that's just my nature.

"I want to work hard for my team-mates and manager and what will be will be."

Didier Drogba An Injury Concern For Chelsea During Crucial Premier League Run-In

Chelsea's top scorer Didier Drogba could miss some of the Blues' last three league games, as manager Carlo Ancelotti attempts to guide his team to Premier League glory.

The 32-goal Ivorian has been struggling with a groin strain in recent weeks, and wanted to come off in Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur after causing it further damage.

But Ancelotti had used all three of his substitutions by then, so Drogba was forced to play out the remainder of the game noticably unsettled.

With four games left in the season, player and manager now have to decide how they manage the injury — which may yet require minor surgery before the summer's World Cup.

"It's his decision," said Ancelotti, according to the Press Association.

"He doesn't have a big problem. It's more about controlling the situation. He'll take a decision at the end of the season, whether he has surgery or not. But it's not sure he'll have surgery."

Drogba's countryman, Salomon Kalou, hopes the hitman is available for the remainder of the season — especially as three wins from their final three league games will guarantee the Blues their first title since 2006.

"Every time I have the chance to work with him I listen to what he has to say - he is very important to me," said Kalou.

"When you're talking about strikers in the game today, Didier is one of the best and I want to take advantage of this opportunity to learn from him.

"Didier is like a big brother to me. First of all we come from the same country and that makes us closer.

"He still takes me to one side at training and gives me tips. We are always working in front of the goal. He is always so sharp in front of the net and I want to improve that side of my game."

John Terry's Poor Form Raises Concerns For Chelsea And England

John Terry will this week get a placatory arm around the shoulder and some words of comfort and support as Chelsea look to put their damaged title challenge back on track.

The Chelsea captain’s season has dipped from bad to worse, culminating at White Hart Lane with a performance, in front of Fabio Capello, that the defender will want to erase from the memory bank.

Carlo Ancelotti will tell Terry: “non agitarti”. The Italian will translate that to “don’t panic” but the order, from a man who has experienced everything this game can offer, will be straightforward and calm amid the chaos that is unfolding at the business end of this most compelling of seasons.

Terry will miss the visit of Stoke City as a result of his first red card since December 2008, at Everton, when the same referee, Phil Dowd, sent the player off. This time he went for two yellow cards, for two sloppy fouls, but he could have been dismissed earlier had Dowd spotted Terry pulling the shirt of Jermain Defoe.

He had appeared to recover, with strength, from the allegations of an affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge and the subsequent loss of his England captaincy.

But the latest display, in a 2-1 defeat, will give cause for concern, both for Chelsea and England, particularly as he was outshone by another defender, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, who is still waiting to make his senior debut for his country. Dawson later refused to consider the prospect of an England call up, but Capello is considering him for the coming friendlies.

Terry was even involved in an altercation with a Spurs fan at half time. How ironic that the fan has been banned, by Spurs, from the club’s next home game -- the same punishment meted out to Terry for the red card.

“The people are looking too much at John Terry’s performances,” claimed Ancelotti. “He is doing very well. He did a fantastic season. Maybe sometimes he had some problems and didn’t play so well, maybe against Tottenham he didn’t play too well. But he has been absolutely fantastic.”

As for the rashness of being sent-off in a game of such importance, Ancelotti again offered sympathy. “I was a player,” he recalled, “and you know sometimes you are not always rational, you lose sometimes your control.”

Which is something Chelsea can no longer afford to do. “Now we have to win the next game and if it’s possible the next three games and then we are the champions,” he added. “Tottenham played better than us, it can happen, so it’s not a time now to be disappointed, it’s a time to stay calm, to stay focussed and to look forward for the next game.”

As for the possibility that Tottenham could make it a trio of prize scalps, at Old Trafford, Ancelotti added: “They are in a good moment and they could do a very game, but we are not interested, we have to win against Stoke.

“And we have to control this but I think my players have the character and the concentration to maintain an atmosphere of calm and quiet and remain in focus on our match.”

Which is something they failed to do at White Hart Lane. From the early stages Spurs were inspired and having been denied one penalty, won another when Terry was adjudged to have handled David Bentley’s cross. The decision was harsh; the ball bounced awkwardly and may have caught his shoulder, but the complaints were minimal and Defoe, who had missed six of his previous 10 penalties, converted with power.

And when Gareth Bale, quite stunning on the left side, added a second before the interval, the warning bells were alive. Chelsea teams in the past have responded with urgency. This Chelsea side threw in the towel.

They were not helped by a woeful performance on the right by Paulo Ferreira, who was torn to shreds by Bale. He had been ill, his manager insisted, so his failure to appear for the second half was not a surprise.

Spurs had chances to embarrass Chelsea and although Frank Lampard’s late goal gave the visitors hope, losing Terry in the 67th minute, was the final set-back. Now Chelsea face Stoke with a defence missing Terry and Ricardo Carvalho but, almost certainly, reinforced by Ashley Cole, who spent Saturday on the bench.

One more slip, and one wonders what Roman Abramovich will be thinking. Interesting times indeed.

Alan Hansen: Failure To Win Premier League Could Be End Of Chelsea 'As We Know Them'

Former Liverpool defender Alan Hansen believes that, should Chelsea fail to claim the Premier League title this season, then the recent period they have enjoyed as a dominant force in the English top flight could be over.

The Blues lost to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday whilst rivals Manchester United won at Manchester City.

That saw the Londoners' lead at the top of the table cut to just one point with three games left, and Hansen feels that failure to win the title will have consequences far beyond this season.

"As for Chelsea, they will be guilty of the biggest slip-up in the history of the Premier League if they fail to win the title because they have had so many opportunities to put it beyond their rivals’ reach and been unable to do it," Hansen told The Daily Telegraph.

"If they finish without the title this season, it could be the end of Chelsea as we know them. It is such a crucial time for the club.

"Win the league, and Roman Abramovich might be energised by the experience, throw more money at it and go for the big prizes all over again. But with the team needing new blood, he might decide that, although he has had a great time, the party is over."

Hansen feels that neither Chelsea nor United have been top class teams this season, with United's experience and, crucially, their manager, playing major parts in their title challenge.

"No matter who wins the title this season, though, it will be the first time that an average team will have claimed the Premier League crown," the former Liverpool skipper added.

"Jose Mourinho changed the face of English football when he was at Chelsea because his team raised the bar so high that you had to be a great side to win the league during his time at Stamford Bridge.

"But neither United nor Chelsea can lay claim to being a great side this season. If United win the title, it will be down to their perseverance and ability to do what champions do in terms of never giving up.

"They also have the figure of Sir Alex in the dressing room, warning players that they might not have a future at United and hammering home the message that they never give up."

Liverpool face Chelsea on May 2, and Hansen insists that there will be no difference in attitude from Rafael Benitez's side, even though a win for them could hand bitter rivals Manchester United the title.

"There is absolutely no chance whatsoever that Liverpool will be handing out any favours to Chelsea at Anfield, even it means that they ultimately play a pivotal role in handing United their 19th league title," he asserted.

"Sir Alex Ferguson knows this only too well and anybody who might doubt Liverpool’s integrity and resolve will be seriously mistaken.

"In 1995, Liverpool almost handed the title to United by beating Kenny Dalglish’s Blackburn on the final day of the season, but United’s failure to win at West Ham proved their downfall.

"Liverpool will be approaching the Chelsea game in exactly the same manner. They will be 100 per cent professional and they would expect the same from United."

Chelsea Analysis: Carlo Ancelotti Likes Stability, But Blues Definitely Need Changes This Summer

In between the confirmation of Ashley Cole's return to the first-team squad and various denials that the double was already in the bag, the most significant comment of Carlo Ancelotti's Friday press conference almost slipped under the radar. Asked by one journalist if he agreed with Fabio Capello's reported comments that the Premier League would have to spend to regain its grip on European competition, the coach said he didn't think it was the "most important thing".

Asked for a second time to clarify whether he would be reaching for the cheque book come the season's close, Ancelotti took the opportunity to state his position unequivocally. "No, it's not necessary to spend a lot of money this summer," he said.

Whether Chelsea or Manchester United end up winners, they will have suffered more Premier League defeats than any champions in nine years - United lost six times in winning the league in 2001. It doesn't take a visionary to work out that United miss a certain number 7, and that they could do with a better blend in midfield. But for the Blues - and Ancelotti - their strength this season in having a team full of experienced campaigners could prove to be their weakness in the future.

It's only natural that Ancelotti should put his faith in seasoned pros. This, after all, is what sustained him in eight seasons at the helm of AC Milan. He deserves enormous credit for keeping Milan competitive in Europe at least. The outstanding achievement on his CV when he arrived at Stamford Bridge was his Champions League record, with wins in 2003 and 2007 sandwiching the extraordinary loss to Liverpool. Performance in Serie A was far from what was hoped for, though. One Scudetto (in 2004) was Ancelotti's haul, and his last three seasons saw Milan struggle even to hold on to a Champions League spot - a humbling situation for a side so used to making their presence felt in that competition's final stages.

2006-07 4th place - Milan started the season on minus eight points, their punishment for their part in the Calciopoli scandal, but even with those points reinstated they would have finished 28 points behind champions Inter.

2007-08 5th place - the European champions missed out completely, having to content themselves with a UEFA Cup spot

2008-09 runners-up - despite a few end-of-season wobbles, Milan clinched second position and an automatic return to the Champions League group stage

Ancelotti's league record is tempered by a few mitigating factors: the aforementioned Calciopoli, and the fact that Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi provided less and less funds to strengthen the side.

In his last season in Italy the coach acquired Mathieu Flamini on a free; plus Ronaldinho, who was widely considered to be a spent force, and certainly played like it in his debut Serie A season; and 30-somethings Gianluca Zambrotta and David Beckham (on loan).

This lack of investment was not an overnight thing. A look at the Champions League final line-ups in 2005 and 2007 reveals only four changes to the starting line-up for the latter final - Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, Massimo Ambrosini and Filippo Inzaghi coming into the XI for 2007. Ambrosini and Inzaghi were already at the club, and had been part of the squad for the 2003 win over Juventus at Old Trafford too. In fact, the whole starting XI in 2003 were still at the club in 2005 with all but Inzaghi (injured) in the squad for the Athens final.

At Stamford Bridge, it's been no secret that owner Roman Abramovich has wanted to make Chelsea financially self-sufficient for a number of years - it was with this in mind that he appointed Peter Kenyon. Perhaps the ability to keep getting more out of ageing players was an element of Ancelotti's profile that made him attractive to the Russian. Yet if Chelsea's league performance started to wane in the fashion that Milan's did the coach would swiftly find himself out of work, and age is starting to catch up with the squad.

Ancelotti: Character To Cope

Carlo Ancelotti has given support to his captain in the wake of John Terry's red card at Tottenham.

The Chelsea manager spoke about pressure generally following the 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane but asked specifically if he believes Terry is coping with pressure upon him especially; Ancelotti pointed anyone raising that question to the big picture.

'All the people are looking too much at his performances,' the Italian said. 'Maybe sometimes he had some problems and he didn't play so well, maybe on Saturday he didn't play so well, but you have to look to the whole season of John Terry which is absolutely fantastic.

'I was a player and I know as a player sometimes you lose your control and any player can do this.

'John Terry is under pressure now, but everyone is under pressure at this moment,' Ancelotti added. 'He is the captain and he is involved in this exciting race and it's nothing special.

'The pressure is normal. To have pressure at the end of the Premier League is normal. We are top of the table and I think we have less pressure than the other teams.

'We have to control this but I think my players have character and concentration to maintain their focus on our matches.'

It was not a good day for Terry, nor other areas of the Chelsea defence and Ancelotti admitted there were problems with the right-hand side from where both Spurs goals originated. Paulo Ferreira, he reported, had suffered sickness is the days leading up to the game but Branislav Ivanovic, who replaced the Portuguese right-back at half-time, was not fit enough after injury to play a full 90 minutes.

What Ancelotti refuses to accept influenced the result was news of Manchester United's late winner prior to our kick-off.

'We were disappointed yes but we were involved in an important game and we prepared very well for this game, nothing changed about the pressure on this game after the goal by Scholes.

'It was bad day. Tottenham played better than us but it is not a time to be disappointed, it is a time to stay calm, stay focused and look forward to the next game.'

Chelsea TV Exclusive: It Was Messy

Reflecting on our 2-1 defeat to Tottenham, Frank Lampard insisted the side's slow start cost us three points in north London.

The midfield maestro, who began the game as vice-captain but ended it with the armband following John Terry's dismissal, believes their lead was too much to recover from after we conceded twice in the first half.

Chasing a two-goal deficit is never easy but against Tottenham, for Chelsea, it is even harder, explained Lampard: 'The last thing you want to do when you go to White Hart Lane is give them a 1-0 lead at the start, especially in the derby.

'When we went 1-0 down they got their confidence and when the game went to 2-0 it put us under a lot pressure and they are a good side.

'Then the game got messy in the second half and we went down to 10 men.

'But to be fair we had quite a lot of the ball in their box, we just couldn't find that last little pass.'

Needless to say, both players and fans alike were upset with Saturday's match but the result may not have been so hard to swallow, had it not been for a certain Paul Scholes goal.

'It's disappointing, especially with Manchester United's result,' noted Lampard.

'When they scored in the last minute it was hard. If they had drawn the game it would have left us in a very healthy position but now it's tighter.

'We were trying to get back into the game and with the last goal we had a bit of a lift but it's difficult with 10 men.

'But we have to get on with it now, understand it and not dwell on it because if we win our next three games we win the League.'

Touching on Terry's brace of bookings, Lampard was keen to express his leader's desire to succeed and how that sometimes transpires on the pitch.

'He wants to win and he's a fantastic captain,' reports Lampard, 'although for the first yellow I thought he got a slight touch on the ball.

'But when he went into that second tackle, you knew the minute the tackle went in he was going to get sent off.

'When you're playing in such circumstances sometimes these things happen but I don't think the referee gave us much in the game.'

However, Lampard himself gave us something when a stoppage time slide to the far post resulted in our only goal, taking him to 23 for the season.

'It doesn't feel so good given the circumstances of the game,' said Lampard, 'but if it can help us with the goal difference at the end of the season then it's worth it.'

With the League position in mind, Petr Cech, who put in an outstanding performance between the posts, knows Saturday's result has left us in the same position as a couple of weeks ago.

'It is basically the same as before,' said Cech. 'If we had drawn we would be two points clear and we would still have to win every game. Now we have the first game at home to Stoke and we have to win.'