Carlo Ancelotti: We Aren't Ready For The New Premier League Season

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has confessed that his team is not fit for the start of the Premier League campaign.

The defending champions lost their third straight pre-season match, losing to Hamburg 2-1 on Wednesday.

Ancelotti admits that his returning World Cup stars are fighting to be fully prepared to face West Bromwich Albion in their August 14 Premier League opener.

"Some players are in good condition but others need more time,” Ancelotti told The Sun.

"The 10 players that only came back to us on July 26 need to have another two weeks of work.

"After just eight days of training it is impossible to be fit.

"We are all disappointed because we have lost three games consecutively so it's not a good start for us.

"Now we have to hope we can come back with a win against Manchester United in the Community Shield on Sunday."

Goals from Mladen Petric and Heung-Min Son in the second half, led the Bundesliga side past the Blues, who lost the previous two pre-season games to Ajax and Eintracht Frankfurt as well.

Michael Essien helped Chelsea take the lead, stealing the ball from Jonathan Pitripa and feeding Frank Lampard, who was left with a simple tap-in to make the score 1-0 for the Blues.

However, Petric took advantage of a terrible backpass from Yuri Zhirkov to score the equalizer, and with just three minutes remaining Son rounded Ricardo Carvalho and beat goalkeeper Ross Turnbull to give the German club a 2-1 victory.

Ancelotti insists that the defence must improve if Chelsea are going to repeat as Premier League champions this season.

"In the past the defence has given out a lot of confidence - but now we are losing some concentration.

"We have made mistakes and now we have to show more character.

"But even if some of our players are not fit, they still have a good presence on the pitch.

"Maybe it's not so important that Lampard and Terry are 100 per cent fit at the start of the season because they have that presence and they will do better. They just need more time playing."

Yury Zhirkov Lined Up By Zenit St Petersburg For £21m Swoop

Zenit St Petersburg are considering a £21million bid to take Chelsea defender Yury Zhirkov back to Russia.

The 26-year-old endured a torrid first season at Stamford Bridge, struggling with injuries in both knees and making just 10 Premier League starts following an £18.6m move from CSKA Moscow.

Chelsea agreed to sign Zhirkov before Carlo Ancelotti arrived and the Russia international has struggled to fit into his manager’s plans.

He has mostly been used as Ashley Cole’s understudy, despite forging a reputation at CSKA as an attacking left winger.

Runaway Russian Premier League leaders Zenit would give Zhirkov a prominent role as they build a side for the Champions League and are also on the brink of signing Porto captain Bruno Alves for £18.2m.

Zhirkov refused to comment, saying he was only focused on being fit for the new season with Chelsea.

‘I can say that I am a Chelsea player and it’s a great honour to play for the club,’ he said.

‘The knee is not a worry. The competition in our club for places is great. But I really want to play and will do everything I can to break into the team.’

Ramires Explains Chelsea Switch

Benfica and Brazil midfielder Ramires has urged his current club's supporters to understand why he has chosen to leave Lisbon to join Chelsea.

The 23-year-old is poised to complete a big-money switch to Stamford Bridge, with a fee of around £18million having been agreed between the two clubs.

Ramires told A Bola after opting to leave the Portuguese champions: "I hope everyone understands this decision. This is football and this outcome is good for the club and for me.

"I love this club. I took Benfica into my heart. I am very happy. I will never forget how I got here, where I was a champion, where I improved and I was very happy. It was a wonderful year.

"I hope that everyone understands that it was a very good opportunity for me on a personal, sporting and financial level."

France Under-19 Skipper Gueida Fofana Urges Chelsea & Liverpool To Bid For Him

France under-19 skipper Gueida Fofana has urged Chelsea and Liverpool to snap him up from Le Havre.

The defensive midfielder was at the heart of Les Blues victory in last weekend's U19 European Championship Final victory against Spain. After inspiring his team-mates to victory, the Premier League pair and Barcelona have been linked with sweeping him up from the Ligue 2 outfit where he has just one year to run on his contract.

Speaking to skysports.com, Fofana declared he was ready to try his hand at a major European heavyweight.

He said: "I am feeling great after winning the Euros, we played really well and deserved to win.

"I have heard that there are teams interested in me, but nothing concrete has come out as yet.

"If I have to leave here [Le Havre], I want to make sure it is on good terms."

Bertrand Makes Forest Loan Switch

Championship outfit Nottingham Forest has signed highly-rated young Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand on a six-month loan deal.

Bertrand, who celebrates his 21st birthday today, is widely regarded as one of the game's top young prospects.

He is renowned for his attacking ability having been converted from an orthodox winger.

Bertrand has been at Chelsea for five years following an initial £125,000 move from Gillingham.

In 2006 he signed professional forms at Stamford Bridge and has gathered Football League experience during loan spells at Bournemouth, Oldham, Norwich and Reading, where he was a regular in the side last season.

Killie Swoop For Young Blues Star

Kilmarnock have completed their second signing of the summer after Chelsea agreed to loan out their young left-back Ben Gordon until January.

Gordon, 19, follows in the footsteps of Portuguese winger David Silva, who joined on a two-year deal.

A statement released by the Ayrshire club said: "Kilmarnock Football Club is delighted to announce that Chelsea reserve team player Ben Gordon has signed a short-term loan with the club.

"Ben is an England U17 international [and] has been under contract with Chelsea since 2007.

"Everyone at the club extends a warm welcome to Ben and wishes him every success during his time at Rugby Park."

Anelka Recalls Domenech Row

Nicolas Anelka has described what happened during his infamous row with Raymond Domenech and said the former France manager was wrong to play him out of position.

Les Bleus endured a shambolic World Cup campaign, not only making an early exit after failing to win any of their group games but also struggling to stay unified off the field.

Anelka was sent home following a dressing room bust-up with Domenech at half-time during the 2-0 defeat to Mexico, with reports suggesting he had launched a foul-mouthed tirade at the coach.

The striker never denied ranting at Domenech but took French sports daily L'Equipe to court for libel after it printed details of the altercation, accusing the newspaper of distorting his words.

"I'd like to see Domenech confessing to the world that I didn't use those words," Anelka said.

"I wish he had the honesty to say it, and to say it to his mum too."

Anelka believes Domenech, who has since been replaced by Laurent Blanc, 'should be ashamed' after making a 'casting mistake'.

The Chelsea man was disappointed at being told to stay in the penalty area when he feels one of his main strengths is to drop deep.

"My biggest regret is that I was not given the chance to play in my best position," said Anelka.

"If the coach wanted to take a player which stays in the box, he shouldn't have picked me. He made a casting mistake."

In an interview with France Soir, Anelka went into more detail about what happened at half-time of the Mexico clash.

He said: "We returned to the dressing room and, for five minutes, the players talked. The coach arrived and said to me: 'Damn, Nico, I've told you to stop dropping back and stay up front'.

"I told him if I stay there, I do not get a touch of the ball, and said: 'Stop telling me to stay up front. I won't stay up front'.

"It carried on, but at that moment my head was gone. I wasn't even listening to what he said."

Domenech's immediate reaction, Anelka claims, was to dismiss him from the squad despite the efforts of captain Patrice Evra to pacify both parties.

"He said: 'Go, its fine, leave' and asked one of his assistants to get Dede (Andre-Pierre Gignac) ready," Anelka continued.

"I said: 'No problem, deal with your team'.

"Pat (Evra) and Franck (Ribery) were next to me and they said: 'Stop, Nico, calm down. Let it go, shut up!'

"Then Pat asked me to put my jersey back on and said to the coach that these things happen all the time, that he should not react on a whim and make me leave.

"Again, the coach didn't listen and made his changes."

Chelsea In New Partnership With Singha Beer

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the signing of Singha Beer as the club's official beer sponsor.

The four-year deal will see the Thai beer company become a platinum partner of the club, following the most successful season in our history that saw us win both the Premier League title and the FA Cup in May.

Singha Beer is produced by Boonrawd Brewery and was the first beer to be brewed by a Thai. The premium lager is a full-bodied, 100 percent barley malt beer with strong hop characteristics and a rich taste. It was introduced internationally in the 1970s and has been synonymous worldwide with Thailand since. It is now available in nearly 50 countries.

Singha Beer will be sold exclusively across the Stamford Bridge venue including stadium kiosks, bars, restaurants and hotels from the start of the 2010/11 season.

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay said: 'We are excited to welcome Singha Beer as our official beer partner for the club.

'It is the leading beer brand in Thailand and will help us to reach out to our rapidly growing fan base in Asia-Pacific. We are certain that Singha Beer will be an excellent partner for the club.'

Santi Bhirom Bhakdee, chief executive of Boonrawd Brewery added: 'It is a glorious leap forward for Singha Corporation to join hand in hand with Chelsea Football Club, a club that thirsts for victory and accomplishment.

'We are certain that this strategic alliance will propel both organizations to new levels of prosperity.'

The deal represents another addition to Chelsea's successful platinum level partners which includes Thomas Cook, EA Sports and 188BET.

Bringing Happiness To Hamburg

As part of the squad's visit to Hamburg this week, they met with a group of 15 children from the city's Center for Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Prior to the game at the Imtech Arena on Wednesday, the group of children, all of who have had heart surgery, arrived at the team hotel to meet their heroes for a signing session, and were each treated to a Blues goodie bag to take away as a souvenir of the day.

There may have been a few more Hamburg shirts than Chelsea ones, but that didn't stop the enjoyment from both players and kids alike.