林柏特肯定會缺陣了
LAMPARD ABSENCE CONTINUES
Chelsea will be without midfielder Frank Lampard against Manchester City on Saturday.
The midfielder is understood to need more time to recover from his recent hernia surgery and so will miss the trip to Eastlands along with striker Salomon Kalou and midfielders Yossi Benayoun and Gael Kakuta.
Kakuta (back), Kalou (thigh) and Benayoun (calf) were all injured during Chelsea's 4-3 Carling Cup exit at the hands of Newcastle on Wednesday night.
But Lampard is the biggest blow as the England midfielder was expected back in time for their first real test of the season against Roberto Mancini's side.
However, Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel hopes the Blues will continue their unbeaten run in the Barclays Premier League against City.
Chelsea have secured five straight league wins over West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham and Blackpool but City will present them with a different type of challenge.
However, Mikel is warning that any defender facing Chelsea must be running scared after the Blues scored 21 goals in their opening five league games.
He said: "If I was a defender playing against Chelsea, I would be very scared because you don't know where we're going to come from - we have Ashley Cole bombing forward on the left side all the time.
"So it is hard to know what to expect when we have all these players bombing forward all the time.
"If you look at our front three, none of them have a static position, they are all moving around.
"It is the same with the midfield although I tend to stay a little bit more because I cannot afford to leave that position.
"Playing that way helps us a lot while the other team is thinking about whether to follow Nicolas Anelka's runs, Frank Lampard or Michael Essien."
City boss Roberto Mancini could have only three fit defenders and may have to field an emergency left-back if Micah Richards fails to recover from injury.
Mancini is desperately short of defensive options and if Richards is ruled out by his hamstring injury, City will have only Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure as certain starters in their backline.
Meanwhile, striker Didier Drogba insists he and partner Anelka are just as good at setting up goals as scoring them as they prepare for the trip to Eastlands.
"There are players in our team who can score goals but those same players are capable of giving assists," said Drogba.
"It helps if I can go outside to the right or left to make some space and I know that Nico (Anelka) or Florent Malouda will move up front in that situation. They both show that understanding and the desire to score goals, so it makes things really interesting.
"We know we have the quality in the dressing room to make the difference at any time in any game.
"This is going to be important in tight games because our opponents will know that a chance could come from a good pass by a striker or by a good strike from a midfielder.
"It's good to have so many players with these qualities and to be able to make goals from different situations.
"The fluidity comes because we know each other so well now and that makes things easier for you on the pitch.
"That understanding is there because we've been together such a long time so we know more or less what we have to do."
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/10/09/24/manual_065935.html
