Chelsea - Hughes is not worried about Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba…yet!
Fulham v Chelsea
Barclays Premier League
Venue: Craven Cottage
Date: Monday, 14 February - Kick-off: 20:00
TV Coverage: Live on Sky Sports 1
Online TV Coverage: Live on http://epl.trueonlinetv.com
Fulham's Bobby Zamora scored for the reserves in midweek but is still a few weeks away from making a first team return from his broken leg. Gael Kakuta, on loan from Chelsea, is ineligible under Premier League rules.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed £21.3m defender David Luiz will make his first start after coming off the bench against Liverpool. Ancelotti has also revealed that Portugal defender Jose Bosingwa is a doubt with an unspecified injury.
Torres and Drogba will get - but hopefully not tonight!
Fulham boss Mark Hughes knows his side will have their work cut out containing the £74m threat of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres – but doesn’t expect the Chelsea duo to start firing on all cylinders just yet.
Expectations of the duo are high following Torres' £50million transfer from Liverpool and Hughes believes they will deliver, but not straight away. "I expect them to gel together. They are good players so it will be interesting to see how the team shapes up," said the Fulham boss.
"In the last few years with all its success, Chelsea have been based around a focal point which has been Drogba. He has a few others which support him as well - will that change with Torres? We will see. There is an expectation that the boy will play.
"I know (Chelsea manager) Carlo Ancelotti has played the diamond before so there could be a different formation now. Carlo has been working with formations all his life and will find the right fit, but with Torres it initially may take time."
Dickson Etuhu has failed to recover from his hamstring injury so Steve Sidwell will continue to deputise in Fulham's midfield against his former club having impressed in recent games.
"Steve has done really well so I'm really pleased with him," Hughes added. "Credit to him, he has not had a great deal of football and we have thrown him straight into the team because needs must. He is in great nick and has got up to the pace of the Premier League very quickly.
"He has looked after himself - he could have been disappointed at not playing at Villa but he kept focused and trained correctly. That has enabled him to hit the ground running.
"Steve and Danny Murphy have worked really well together. Dickson has done really well there as well, so we are comfortable in central midfield."
No comments:
Post a Comment