• Left-back returns to light training after fracturing ankle
• Capello warns: ‘If Cole is only half-fit, that’s not enough’

Ashley Cole returned to training with Chelsea this week but faces a race against time to prove his fitness to the England manager, Fabio Capello.

Cole has been out since fracturing his ankle against Everton in February and it was thought that the left-back would be out until May, but he was able to do some gentle running at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground yesterday.

Chelsea hope he will be fit for their final three league games of the season, beginning with the home game against Stoke on 25 April. Capello, though, has warned Cole that he will not be taking unfit players to the World Cup in South Africa.

“I know not all the players will be in the same shape. Some will have played the whole season, some will have played only half the season,” Capello told Four Four Two magazine. “If, for example, Ashley Cole is only half-fit, that’s not enough. He needs to play too. After three months of being injured he will need games.”

Ashley ColeEnglandWorld Cup 2010ChelseaJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk