Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is expected to be sidelined until January after undergoing knee surgery on Monday.The Ghana international, who has a history of knee injuries, ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus in his right knee in pre-season training last week.
The injury is said to have stunned Chelsea officials, who were expecting scans to reveal a simple twisted knee after Essien fell innocuously during a training drill.
Instead, the 28-year-old has had surgery to repair the torn structures and faces up to six months of rehabilitation before he can return to the Blues.
It is Essien’s third serious knee injury in three years. The midfielder missed a large chunk of the 2008/09 campaign due to cruciate ligament damage and was forced out of the 2010 World Cup with a less severe medial ligament injury.
New Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas said: “Everyone at Chelsea wishes Michael well for his recovery.”
“His team-mates and all the staff and I look forward to helping him return to playing as soon as possible.”
Valencia manager Unai Emery wants his team to quickly put their Champions League loss to Schalke behind them and focus on the league.The third-placed La Liga outfit went down 3-1 to the Bundesliga club in Germany on Wednesday (4-2 on aggregate), exiting the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage, but Emery was quick to readjust the club’s focus on a top-four finish in the Spanish top flight when Valencia face the lowly Real Zaragoza on Saturday.”After Wednesday’s game we are hurting. But we are aware that our route now is very clear. We want to return to the Champions League next season,” Emery said. “The league is the way to get that, and we have never left it by the wayside. We are very consistent and have our objective set at returning to where we left off on Wednesday.”Valencia’s trip to the Romareda will test their squad depth, with Emery confirming some of his players were worse for wear after their Champions League outing.”We will look at the fitness of the players who played the other day, and also their mental state. We have to make ourselves prepared and up for the game, and ready to give 100 percent at the Romareda. This is the first step,” he said. “We have to look for this from yesterday’s training session onwards. Some were recovering inside, whilst others had an outdoor session. Today we were all together and looking for those who were ready. This is the intense preparation for tomorrow’s game.”Valencia striker Roberto Soldado is in his first season at the Mestalla, and Emery said the 25-year-old has the potential to develop into the mould of Barcelona striker and former Valencia player David Villa.”Roberto Soldado has to grow as a player, and Valencia gives him that chance. He knows, because we’ve spoken about it,” Emery said. “He is intelligent, and he can take on challenges. There are maybe parallels to when Villa came here. We don’t know yet, but maybe. But he has to work.”
Both sides will be looking to bounce back from their desperately disappointing league performances in their last respective league fixtures and this could be a lively affair as a result.
Chelsea’s form remains stuttering though and they go into the game with four wins in their last seven matches across all competitions. They are without the cup-tied Fernando Torres and other new signing David Luiz, who is ineligible.
Everton are without injured front man Louis Saha and the injured Jack Rodwell. They should take heart from their recent record against the current Premier League champions though, as they remain undefeated against them in their previous last four meetings (won 1, drawn 4) and haven’t lost to the reigning Premier League champions since the 2009 FA Cup Final.
Without Louis Saha up top to trouble the home team‘s back four though, I can see only one winner in this contest. A Chelsea side minus the presence of Fernando Torres should see Didier Drogba restored to the starting eleven, with the Ivorian hoping to point to prove to his manager after he was left on the bench in their last game against Fulham. I’m backing Chelsea to put to bed their recent Everton jinx with a strong performance, as they seek to keep alive any hopes that they may have of winning a domestic piece of silverware this season.
Prediction: 3-1 – you can get odds of 12/1 with bet365!
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Rio Ferdinand has denied that a comment he made on Twitter was a racist slur towards Ashley Cole.
The Manchester United defender re-tweeted a comment made by a member of the public that called the Chelsea man a ‘choc ice’.
The term is thought to mean someone who is black but has went against their ethnicity, but Ferdinand has stated that the statement was never intended to be racist.
“What I said yesterday is not a racist term. It’s a type of slang/term used by many for someone who is being fake. So there,” the veteran centre-half stated.
Cole gave evidence in defence of John Terry in his court case last week, in which the England central defender was found not guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.
Meanwhile, Cole’s lawyers have confirmed that the left-back has taken no offence to the ‘choc ice’ comment.
“Ashley has been made aware of the discussion following comments appearing on Twitter and wishes to make it clear that he and Rio Ferdinand are good friends and Ashley has no intention of making any sort of complaint,” Cole’s lawyer states in The Daily Mail.
“Ashley appreciates that tweeting is so quick it often results in off-hand and stray comments.”
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Many Derby County fans would have been disappointed with the exit of striker Rob Hulse. The well-travelled striker has won promotion twice in his career and has been a purchase for teams who were promoted without his services. Now at Championship table-toppers Queens Park Rangers, he will hope to make it three promotions and have a second crack at the Premier League.
Indeed, the first game of the season showed some promise for Derby, who so far under Nigel Clough’s reign have had to endure a transitional period with a massive squad overhaul in the past 20 months in order to create a more manageable wage bill.
Clough, who left Burton Albion after 10 years of service, now faces a new challenge: to revive the fortunes of Derby and once again turn them into Premier League contenders.
An opening-weekend win at Leeds (the opener, scored by former Elland Road favourite Rob Hulse, was his last goal and appearance for the club) would have given fans early hope. The combination of Paul Green, Kris Commons and Hulse was particularly impressive. The latter of course was a key focal point to this attack and, as many Football League defenders will be aware, is more than a mere battering ram.
However, since the opening weekend of the Championship Hulse has been injured and Derby have had to endure two defeats and a draw at home to QPR. Such has been the extent of the injury list at Pride Park that former Exeter defender Dean Moxey has been used as a makeshift striker in variations of 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations.
Before discussing the importance of Rob Hulse’s departure to QPR, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. Hulse is now 30; although still more than capable at that age, he missed 16 games last season and has only played one so far in the current campaign. More crucial to the decision to sell Hulse was that the money on offer was too good to turn down for a striker with only nine months left on his contract, points highlighted by Derby executive chairman Tom Glick.
Hulse has been the top scorer for the Rams for the two previous seasons, chipping in with 28 league goals in his last three campaigns, and his departure will no doubt harm the Derby’s chances of promotion. In addition, Clough may have to re-think tactics; Dean Moxey cannot be relied upon for an entire season, and naturally as a defender he will not match Hulse’s prolific goal-scoring rate.
The departure of the 6ft 2in striker will not aid Derby’s aspirations this season, but the Midlands club are in no hurry.
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While Derby are in the middle of a five-year plan to reach the Premier League, 30-year-old Hulse’s aspirations for top-flight football are more immediate; and under new manager Neil Warnock who would bet against it happening this year.
The winter weather has taken a huge bite in the Premier League programme this weekend, with only the clashes at the Stadium of Light and Ewood Park given the go ahead. Hopefully tonight’s clash at Eastlands will make up for the loss of action as both sides are desperate for the win.
In the papers today there has been a mixed bag of stories which includes Cesc Fabregas airs title fear; Mancini calls on City fans to back Carlos Tevez, while Roy Hodgson eyes new faces at Anfield.
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Fabregas airs title fear – Sky Sports
Nelsen lambasts Blackburn owners – Guardian
Now Houllier orders his Aston Villa commuters to get moving – Daily Mail
Hammers chase Ade on loan – Sun
Mancini expects City fans to back Tevez against Everton – Guardian
Hodgson eyes fresh faces – Sky Sports
Everton fans can be forgiven an envious glance tonight – Independent
Tottenham offer contract to Juventus striker Vincenzo Iaquinta – IM Scouting
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Arsenal ready to sanction £2m sale of Nordtveit to Moenchengladbach – Daily Mail
McCarthy has board backing – Sky Sports
Bayern join race for Glen Johnson – IM Scouting
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An intriguing sub-plot to Robin van Persie’s surprising move to Manchester United from Arsenal this summer is the potential impact that it could have on the positional future of last season’s top goalscorer at the club, Wayne Rooney – is his time as a striker coming to an end at Old Trafford, in the short-term at least?
Last term, Rooney was widely criticised for the nature of his overall performances, even if he managed to bag 27 goals in the Premier League, second only to the Dutchman on 30. It’s a theory that certainly carries some weight and Rooney appears to have forsaken a measure of his unpredictable, creative nature in favour of a more ruthless cutting edge in front of goal, which is no bad thing in itself, he’s just evolved as a player into a slightly different beast to the one we’ve become accustomed to seeing.
The trouble is now, though, having forked out £24m on a 29 year-old striker with a rotten record of injuries in the past is that Van Persie is likely to be given the mantle of leading the line, but whether that means in place of Rooney or beside him remains to be seen. The inevitable comparisons to the club’s treble-winning strike-force of 1999 – Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – have been made by plenty of people, even Ferguson himself, but will Van Persie’s arrival change the shape of the side?
Ferguson said after the former Arsenal man signed: “In 1999 I had Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the four best strikers in Europe. We are going towards that now. They (Rooney and Van Persie) are two fantastic players and it will be great to have both of them. It gives us more strength and more combinations up front. It is a fantastic collection of players and hopefully I pick the right combinations. It is great to have a player of Robin van Persie’s qualities to come into the squad. I am very pleased.”
When he talks about ‘combinations’, that intimates a partnership between Rooney and Van Persie which would effectively mean a 4-4-2 system or something very similar to it, which will only put even more strain on an increasingly weak and fragile centre-midfield area which has been overrun repeatedly in the past year by more energetic and combative opponents.
There’s also the fact that because the move came relatively out of the blue, with Ferguson admitting that he hadn’t planned for such a deal until the Dutch international stated he wasn’t going to sign another contract at the Emirates, is would they even have bought Shinji Kagawa this summer otherwise had they known?
The Japanese creative midfielder is capable of playing out wide on the wing but arrived from Borussia Dortmund for an absolute bargain £12m fee with the idea of playing in the hole behind the striker, with Rooney likely to be that man. Would you really play Kagawa in a two-man central midfield?
Probably not is the answer to that one, which leaves them then with four wingers into two spaces and while that’s some admirable strength in depth from the club’s and fan’s perspective, you suspect that keeping Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia, Nani and Kagawa all happy and with enough playing time will be a difficult task, which partly explains the speculation linking the Portuguese wide-man with an exit this summer, even if that would be an ill-advised move considering the sheer weight of his end product in terms of goals and assists.
There’s also the consideration that Rooney could be pushed out wide onto the left, a role he often occupied in Europe to great effect with Cristiano Ronaldo taking the lone central role a few years back. Van Persie has often played out wide for Holland in the past, but the physical demands of the Premier League and international football are two different kettles of fish entirely and Rooney’s energy and versatile nature make him more of an ideal candidate for the switch.
It’s certainly a bold move recruiting Van Persie and Ferguson appears to have allowed himself this one indulgence as he seeks to overhaul Manchester City this season, who also possess a frightening forward line in terms of both depth and quality.
United failed to score in just three separate games last season, less than City with five and they scored an impressive 89 goals, only marginally less than City’s 93, so recruiting a goalscorer, on the face of it at least, would not appear to be a pressing concern. However, Ferguson has clearly decided to try and fight fire with fire and this may allow Rooney to return to a deeper role than he’s played in previous seasons gone by and return to his creative best.
Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez are exceptionally strong third and fourth-choice strikers to have in your squad and they both bring different skills to the table, but the temptation with playing Rooney and Van Persie up front together has to be tempered with the sneaking suspicion that they may be a bit too similar to hit it off right away.
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Of course, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are broadly similar players and they have a fabulous partnership together, so good players can often co-exist alongside one another in the same side as long as the support structure behind them is right. It is an interesting concept to see if Rooney will be pushed back, perhaps not as far as he was at times last season, but deeper than we have become accustomed to seeing him of late.
Shifting a man who has scored 64 league goals in his last three seasons and 85 across all competitions is an extremely risky strategy, but the rewards if it does come off are huge and it may just be a gamble worth taking that has the potential to benefit both players in the long-term and help the club impose themselves more on the top table of European competition this term.
Italian giants Juventus are ready to rival Manchester United in the chase to sign promising Austrian youngster Marcel Sabitzer, according to talkSPORT.
The 18-year-old forward is out of contract at his current Austrian club side Admira Wacker at the end of the season and is valued at £1million.
He has scored eight goals since the start of last season and his form lead to him earning a first senior international cap in Austria’s 0-0 draw with Romania in June, however he has since dropped back down to the Under-21 squad.
While United are keen to secure the services of Sabitzer, reports in Italy suggest that Juventus have emerged as frontrunners to sign him and could make a move for him as early as January.
His current club are reluctant to lose him, but the lure of playing for one of Europes major clubs will be a temptation for the young player.
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Sabitzer adds his name to a string of players linked with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side recently, with the United chief looking keen to strengthen his squad this winter as his side bids to reclaim their Premier League title from bitter rivals Manchester City.
West Brom defender Liam Ridgewell wants to keep Dimitar Berbatov quiet tomorrow after watching the Bulgarian run riot the last time he lined up against him.
Berbatov scored a hat-trick for Manchester United when Ridgewell was forced to fill in at centre-back for Birmingham City just before they won the Carling Cup in 2011. Tomorrow he will have to be on top form if he is to thwart the 31-year-old striker, who looks certain to make his home debut for new club Fulham. The 28-year-old told the Birmingham Mail:
“He’s a new face but everyone knows about him and how good a player he is. It is sometimes worrying because you can get a bit laid-back, then suddenly he spurts into scoring a hat-trick. So you’ve got to keep your wits about you. They have got a lot of good players, though, and we will have to be on our game to make sure we stop them. We will definitely be up for the game, that’s for sure.”
Berbatov made his Cottagers debut from the bench in the 3-0 defeat to West Ham last time out but couldn’t affect the result. Albion will be hoping he fails to kick-start his career for a second game running but Ridgewell knows Fulham have plenty of other players who can cause damage if he does have a quiet day. He continued:
“Over the years they have always been good at home and they are a good side, whoever they’ve got in their team. “Fulham away is a tough game but we will be going down there with a lot of confidence and hopefully we will be able to come away with a positive result.”
West Brom face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
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West Brom’s on-loan striker Romelu Lukaku has vowed to make a name for himself at The Hawthorns – after growing tired of comparisons with former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba.
The Belgian, 19, was dubbed the “new Drogba” when he joined the Blues last summer, because of his similar playing style and physical presence to the Ivorian, but he found his path to Chelsea’s starting XI blocked by Drogba and managed just one Premier League start following his £18million move from Anderlecht.
Despite the Blues legend leaving Stamford Bridge for a new career in China, Lukaku also opted to move away from west London this summer in his quest for regular first team football. Now, he is desperate to step out of Drogba’s shadow during his season-long loan spell at West Brom. He told Sky Sports:
“Didier and I have a similar playing style, but I don’t think he would have wanted to be compared to someone when he was young. Every player wants to be their own person, their own personality. I don’t want to be the new anyone. At first it was OK – but now I’m bored of it. It isn’t necessary and I don’t like it now. I have my father’s surname, I am Romelu Lukaku – I’m not anybody else. This is my own name and the name I want people to remember.”
Lukaku was hoping to recover from an ankle injury for Belgium’s World Cup qualifier against Wales last Friday, and managed to play the entire second half. For the Baggies, the 19-year-old has bagged one goal in two substitute appearances.