TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Anelka injury leaves Blues in forward fix • Carlo Ancelotti will turn to youth over festive period• Anelka injured as Drogba and Kalou head for AngolaChelsea's paucity of striking options will be exposed over the festive period after Nicolas Anelka was ruled out of the Premier League leaders' Christmas fixtures through injury, with Carlo Ancelotti also resigned to losing Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou to international duty after Saturday's trip to Birmingham City.Anelka suffered a small tear to his left hamstring in training ahead of Sunday's draw at West Ham United and will not return to contention until the FA Cup third-round tie against Watford on Sunday 3 January at the earliest, and more likely the Premier League trip to Hull City six days later. The poor timing of that injury has been put into sharper contrast by the imminent departures of Drogba and Kalou for the African Cup of Nations, with the Ivory Coast insisting they report to them on 27 December, the day before the league leaders' derby against Fulham at Stamford Bridge.Chelsea are powerless to resist the pair's early departure, with Fifa rules stipulating that players can be called up 14 days before the start of the tournament, which begins in Angola on 10 January. Ancelotti had spoken to the Ivory Coast federation and their coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, in an attempt to delay his players' departure and had retained some hope a compromise could yet be struck. But the Bosnian indicated he requires his squad – which includes six England-based players – to assemble on Monday, the day of the Fulham fixture. "I expect all the players there for medical tests on 28 December before we depart for our pre-tournament training camp in Tanzania," he said."I had hoped that Didier would be able to play [against Fulham], but that depended on the Ivory Coast and their federation," Ancelotti said. "I spoke with their manager two weeks ago and he told me he would like to have the players involved in the Premier League on 27 December. We cannot go against Fifa rules, so Didier will have to leave on 27 December."With that in mind, it's not a good moment for Anelka to be injured. But I think that he will recover quickly and will be back for our games in January. It is a little injury, a hamstring problem, but he won't be ready to play in these [Birmingham and Fulham] games. If Didier is also not there for that match, we will put other players in. Daniel Sturridge has an opportunity to show his qualities. He played against West Ham very well in that second half and maybe against Birmingham he can play from the beginning."That was Sturridge's first Chelsea appearance in almost two months and, while he impressed in winning a dubious penalty at Upton Park, neither he nor the 18-year-old Italian Fabio Borini has scored or started a league game for the club. Regardless, Ancelotti has ruled out adding to his ranks during next month's window, despite the threat that Fifa's 12-month ban on registering players could come into operation at the end of the season depending on the result of the club's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Interest in the Atlético Madrid forward Sergio Agüero would be followed up only if Chelsea are offered real encouragement by the Spanish club. "I'm not changing my mind [on transfer policy]," said Ancelotti, who will not recall his forward Franco Di Santo from a loan at Blackburn Rovers. "I have a lot of confidence in my strikers. Not only Drogba, Kalou and Anelka, but also Sturridge and Borini."Against Fulham, maybe we'll only have those two, Sturridge and Borini. But I think we have good solutions internally, even when we have lost the African players. If you bring new players in, it can create problems in February and March. We don't need any new players at this moment. In January, we'll have Anelka and, by then, he'll be ready to play."But, before then, we have two very important games. We are in a good position with a four-point lead at the top, but we have not been playing at our best. Now we have to concentrate and focus on trying to win our next two matches. This is an important moment. We will have some difficulties against Birmingham, where we will have to play without Anelka, Deco and Essien, but we still have options."Branislav Ivanovic's agent, Vlado Borozan, has said Real Madrid want to sign the defender but added: "I think [Chelsea] will not let him leave right now."ChelseaCarlo AncelottiPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Real Madrid deny Sheikh Mansour buy-out reports Real Madrid insist they have not received an offer from Manchester City owner to buy out Spanish club. telegraph.co.uk |
Arsene Wenger questions motivation for player recalls from African Nations Cup Arsenal manager questions fellow managers' motivation for calling for their players to return over security concerns. telegraph.co.uk |
Liverpool's FA Cup upset saves penalty for News at Ten | Media Monkey It is not often – well, never before – that ITV1's News at Ten had cause to be grateful to Reading Football Club, but Reading's last-minute goal its FA Cup match against Liverpool last night saved the bulletin from utter disaster. News At Ten was hit by a power cut 20 minutes before the programme's scheduled 10pm start time. When the back-up generator also failed at the studios on Gray's Inn Road, the team realised that they had no time to get to the emergency studio at Millbank. But Reading's equaliser, and subsequent extra-time winner, handed victory to the club in its match against Liverpool and gave production staff enough time to scramble down to Millbank, including seven people in senior correspondent James Mates's car. After a lot of filling from ITV's FA Cup team, the bulletin eventually went out at about 10.50pm, with the unflappable Julie Etchingham reading without an autocue and making do with notes on her desk.ITVTV newsTelevision industryFA CupMonkeyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ronaldo scores twice in Real Madrid win: Spanish roundup Cristiano Ronaldo scored both Real Madrid's goals in a 2-0 win over Malaga on Sunday but was later red-carded for deliberately elbowing defender Patrick Jan Mtiliga in the face. cbc.ca |