Essien Staying Positive

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is staying positive despite suffering an injury that will keep him out of action for between four and six weeks.

The Ghana international will miss the remainder of the African Cup of Nations after suffering a knee problem during training in Angola, and has returned to Stamford Bridge to step up his recovery.

Essien, 27, was in fine form for the Blues before he was initially sidelined in December with hamstring trouble, and he admits he is getting used to being injured.

"Injuries are part of what we do and I am not going to let this affect me at all," he said.

Capable hands

"It's a shame because I hate sitting in the stands watching my team-mates both at Chelsea and in the Ghanaian team.

"Those who know me know that I love being on the pitch and that is what I will be working towards. I want to be back playing as soon as possible.

"I am on first name terms with all the medical team now so it will be business as usual with them and I have no doubt I am in the best hands at the moment.

"I have already started dreaming about coming back and carrying on where I left off and I hope it will be soon.

"Hopefully I can come back and help the team achieve our aims of the season."

Anelka Contract Talks Stall

Sky Sports News understands Chelsea are in real danger of losing Nicolas Anelka as talks over a new contract have broken down for a fourth time.

The Frenchman is in the form of his life at Stamford Bridge and, with just 18 months left on his existing contract, Chelsea are keen to tie him down to a long-term deal.

Carlo Ancelotti has paired Anelka with Didier Drogba throughout this season to rich dividends, with the 30-year-old having scored 11 times already.

While the Blues are eager to convince the nomadic striker to commit his future to West London it appears talks have reached an impasse.

Discussions with Anelka and his agents have failed to yield anything like a positive outcome, with the two parties still some way apart.

Sky Sports sources claim that presently there is just a '10 per cent chance' of an agreement being reached.

Should no deal materialise Chelsea must decide whether to cash in on him in the summer or risk losing the former Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bolton, Fenerbahce, Paris St Germain and Liverpool player for nothing in 18 months' time.

Fulham vs Chelsea

Fulham (from):

Schwarzer, Zuberbuhler,

Paintsil, Stoor, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, Baird, Konchesky,

Murphy, Etuhu, Gera, Riise, Davies,

Nevland, Kamara, Zamora, Dempsey.

Andrew Johnson will be absent from Fulham's squad for their match against Chelsea after manager Roy Hodgson confirmed the ligaments around the striker's collarbone snapped in a challenge during last night's 3-1 over Amkar Perm.

Hodgson said he will give fitness tests to Erik Nevland (foot) and Dickson Etuhu (groin) on Saturday after they were hurt in the same game while Toni Kallio is ruled out with an Achilles injury.

Simon Davies is on course to return from his foot injury while Jonathan Greening could go into the squad for Sunday's Barclays Premier League match if his loan move from West Brom was completed by 5pm today.

Chelsea (from):

Cech, Turnbull, Hilario,

Terry, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Carvalho, A Cole,

Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel, Malouda,

Drogba, Sturridge, Anelka, Kalou.

Chelsea will be without several first-team players.

New signing Yuri Zhirkov is sidelined with a knee injury while Juliano Belletti (Achilles) and defender Alex (groin) are also set to miss out for Carlo Ancelotti's men.

Joe Cole (knee) and Paulo Ferreira (knee) both return to training with the first team next Tuesday.

Chelsea Transfer Rumours January 20th

The Independent

Chelsea could be forced to go back on their “no transfer window signings” pledge if midfielder Michael Essien’s knee injury rules him out for an extended period of time.

I suppose its possible, but when he has been injured before as he was before the tournament even started we did absolutely fine, so probably got no legs this one,

Daily Mirror

Manchester United and Chelsea are battling it out to sign 18-year-old Spanish attacking midfielder Sergio Canales, who can leave Racing Santander in the summer when his contract runs out.

Don’t even no why i am commenting on this one, but i will, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Other Rumours

The Sun

England captain John Terry has secretly put his mansion and his mum’s home up for sale, hoping to raise £11.5m to fund his life as a country gent. He is hoping to use the money to buy a country pile.

Not such a secret then is it and anyway who gives a damn what Terry does with his money

Super Frangkie

Personal Details

DOB	1978-06-20
Age	31
POB	Romford, England
Height	5'10
Weight	12st 4lbs
Team	Chelsea
Position	Midfield

Coming from West Ham in an 11 million move in June 2001. He is the ultimate box to box midfielder who scores goals for fun. Dead ball specialist but he can also crack them in on the run from outside the box. He has been one of England's best player too continuing his great club form at International level. Player of the year 2004/5 and he was another massive player in the title winning side.

Chelsea Stabil di Puncak

KONTRIBUSI - Didier Drogba saat merayakan gol pentingnya ke gawang Fulham pada menit ke-73. Foto: Getty Images.

LONDON - Tim The Blues Chelsea akhirnya mampu tetap bertahan di posisi puncak klasemen sementara English Premier League (EPL) atau Liga Inggris, di pekan terakhir tahun 2009 ini. Itu terjadi setelah mereka mampu menumbangkan tamunya Fulham dengan skor 2-1, Senin (28/12).

Sebagaimana diberitakan situs CNN, Selasa (29/12) dinihari, Didier Drogba menjadi sosok penting Chelsea di pertandingan ini. Pasalnya, The Blues sempat cemas karena harus ketinggalan satu gol dari tim tamunya yang sama-sama berasal dari London Barat itu. Namun Drogba berhasil memecah kebuntuan itu pada menit ke-73. Poin penuh pun akhirnya diraih, setelah Chris Smalling dari Fulham membuat gol bunuh diri.

Hasil ini membuat Chelsea tetap berada di posisi teratas klasemen, dengan nilai 45 dari 20 pertandingan. Namun, meski unggul lima poin dari Manchester United (MU) yang menguntit di urutan kedua, Chelsea jelas belum aman untuk ke depannya, karena MU baru menjalani 19 pertandingan - hingga tulisan ini diturunkan. Sementara Arsenal yang justru baru bermain 18 kali, berada di urutan ketiga dengan nilai 38.

Seperti dilaporkan, Fulham sendiri sebenarnya tampil cukup impresif dari awal, di depan publik Stamford Bridge kali ini. Gol tunggal mereka bahkan dicetak cukup fantastis di awal pertandingan, lewat kaki Zoltan Gera pada menit ke-4. Namun tim yang kini duduk di posisi ke-9 itu, lantas lebih banyak bermain bertahan, hingga akhirnya kebobolan juga di paruh akhir babak kedua, sebelum nyatanya kemudian harus menerima kekalahan.

Bagi Drogba, gol tersebut merupakan yang ke-19 di Chelsea musim ini, di berbagai ajang kompetisi. Kontribusi ini sendiri merupakan sebuah momentum manis sebelum dirinya berangkat membela negara di ajang Piala Afrika, bulan depan. Pemain andalan Pantai Gading ini merupakan satu di antara sekian bintang Chelsea, berikut pesepakbola asal Afrika lainnya di seantero Eropa, yang bakal bertarung di ajang bergengsi benua hitam itu.

Pelatih Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti, tak ayal mengungkapkan perasaan senang dan puasnya dengan hasil ini. "Ini adalah sebuah penampilan yang baik sekali dari para pemain kami," katanya kepada Sky Sports.

"Di babak kedua, kami bermain dengan determinasi yang lebih kuat. Kami memang menginginkan kemenangan dalam pertandingan ini. Ini pertandingan yang sangat penting," tambah Ancelotti pula. (ito/jpnn)

Demi Chelsea, Ballack Tunda Pensiun

LONDON. BK
Gelandang Chelsea, Michael Ballack menyatakan siap rencana "gantung" sepatu bila mendapat tawaran perpanjangan kontrak. Menurutnya, ia masih bila tampil di level tinggi setidaknya untuk dua musim lagi. Beberapa waktu lalu. Ballack menyatakan mempertimbangkan gantung sepatu usai gelaran Piala Dunia 2010 Afrika Selatan. Kebetulan, kontraknya saat ini. yang bernilai 120.000 poundsterling atau sekitar Rpl,8 miliar per pekan, akan habis akhir musim ini.

Namun, Ballack menyangkal rencana "gantung sepatu itu dan siap menegosiasikan kontrak baru. Menurut Daily Muil, kehadiran pelatih Carlo Ancelotti menggugah kembali gairah sepakbola Ballack. "Aku tak pernah berniat pensiun dari klub atau tim nasional jerman Aku masih memiliki ambisi sepakbola yang besar. Aku pikir, aku masih bisa bermain untuk Chelsea di level tertinggi dalam dua musim mendatang." tegasnya.

Sejauh ini. Chelsea belum menyiapkan kontrak haru untuk Ballack. Namun, mengingat Chelsea masih terancam sanksi larangan transfer. Chelsea akan berusaha mempertahankan semua pemain utamanya. Terkait peluang Chelsea musim ini, Ballack optimis "The Blues" bakal meraih gelar ganda sebagai juara Liga Primer Inggris dan Liga Champions. Khusus di Liga Champions, sesuai hasil undian 16 Besar, Chelsea bertemu Inter Milan di bahak knock out tersebut. Ironisnya. Inter kini dilatih mantan pelatih Chelsea, Jose Mourinho.

Ballack menilai. Inter Milan akan sulit mengalahkan Chelsea di bahak 16 besar Liga Champions. N lenurutnya. pelatih Jose mourinho buruh lebih dari sekadar perang psikologis untuk bisa lolos ke 8 boar. Ballack juga tak sabar bertemu dengan mantan pelatihnya itu.

Ballack mengakui, \ lourinho sangat mengetahui peta kekuatan Chelsea. Namun, menurutnya, itu tak menjadi jaminan bahwa Inter akan mudah mengalahkan "The Londoners". Ia menilai, Mourinho akan tetap harus memeras otak untuk mengatur strategi untuk timnya. Tentang berbagai komentar Mourinho, menurut Ballack itu hanya sekadar perang psikologis. Faktanya. Mourinho tak hanya cukup dengan hal itu untuk menaklukkan Chelsea. "Itu bagian dari pekerjaannya (perang psikologis), tetapi kami terfokus pada diri sendiri. Kami tidak banyak bicara tentangapa yang akan terjadi saat melawannya. Tapi, ketika pertandingan sudah semakin dekat, banyak hal yang bisa kami lakukan," tandasnya. O jun