Premier League’s fading influence in Europe adds extra spice to ties against Serie A’s Milan and Napoli

The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League must leave Arsenal and Chelsea uneasy. In the encounters with Milan and Napoli respectively, it is at least feasible that they could be forced to give up their lives as part of a broad, rejuvenating trend in which England’s impact recedes a little. The Premier League clubs learned that the benefit of topping their groups lay purely in the fact that they have the first leg away.

The appeal is still great for Arsenal. “We have good memories at San Siro,” Arsène Wenger said, referring to the 2-0 win over Milan there in 2008 that swept his club into the quarter-finals. That is a help of sorts, but it cannot eliminate all disquiet in England. Manchester City’s elimination had much to do with the single point taken from the group games with Napoli and now Chelsea must study the footage exhaustively.

It will not be lost on André Villas-Boas and his squad that they are as close to being City’s counterparts as is feasible, given the sums plunged into each club. All the same,

• Striker starred in Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Valencia
• Has only been offered a one year contract extension

Didier Drogba has claimed he still has at least two years left to give at the highest level after rescuing Chelsea from the prospect of Champions League elimination.

Drogba was at his best in the 3-0 win over Valencia on Tuesday, which ensured they avoided going out of the competition before Christmas for the first time ever. With four goals in four games, he has once again established himself as Chelsea’s first-choice centre-forward, strengthening his position should talks over a new contract continue.

The 33-year-old’s current deal expires in the summer and he is free to sign a pre-contract with a rival club in less than a month’s time. He has already pledged not to walk away in January, despite reports that he is unhappy only to have been offered a one-year extension.

When asked if he still had a couple of years of top-level football left in him, Drogba said: “I hope so. I started late at a high level. I was 25 when I started to play my first Champions League games. I feel happy, I feel good on the pitch, I’m really enjoying myself, my football. When we’re winning like this, I’m really delighted.”

Drogba refused to elaborate on the prospect of him staying beyond next summer, though.

“My future, really, is not very important. When the time will come, we’ll speak about it. But, at the moment, we don’t need to.”

The Chelsea winger Juan Mata, who set up both of Drogba’s goals, wants his team-mate to stay, saying: “It is an individual decision between the club and Didier but for us it is important to have strikers like Didier, Fernando Torres and Salomon Kalou.

“Didier is a super striker. He is strong and fast, scores goals and makes assists. He is very important for us and, against Valencia, he showed it.”

Two weeks ago, the club appeared to hold all the aces in contract negotiations, with Drogba having scored just once in a season that included a sickening head injury, a red card in the west London derby and arm surgery.

Drogba said: “Injuries didn’t help, the knock on the head, and the red card. And the surgery on my arm didn’t help me to get my fitness. But now I’m having a little bit more games so I hope it’s going to come back quickly.”

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Against Valencia John Terry and David Luiz showed signs that their partnership could develop into something genuinely solid

Away from the passion of the Mestalla, Valencia were a long way from their best. The Spaniards were able to command 66% of possession, but Chelsea were still more than happy and eventually won with some ease. Possession is only worthwhile when it is allied to penetration, and there was very little of that. Valencia’s performance made a mockery of statistics.

Having already alienated Nicolas Anelka and Alex, André Villas-Boas suggested that Fernando Torres, Mikel John Obi and maybe Frank Lampard might have a similarly negative outlook. By introducing Oriol Romeu and persisting with David Luiz and Raul Meireles, the young Portuguese manager showed his vision for Chelsea’s future. Didier Drogba’s shot, following Juan Mata’s control and Daniel Sturridge’s persistence, gave Chelsea a perfect platform, and the home team dropped deep, conceding possession to Valencia in the middle third.

They did little with it to hurt Chelsea, and were happy to roll the ball around far too slowly in ineffectual areas. Crucially, the central defensive partnership of John Terry and David Luiz, which has looked quite shaky at times in recent weeks, left little space behind. They kept close together, and covered for each other with applaudable distrust. Last night they appeared comfortable, showing that after an awkward introduction their partnership could now develop into something more solid.

They were rarely pulled out wide, defending simply across the width of the box. On the left flank Ashley Cole was restrained and held his ground and on the right Branislav Ivanovic kept his shape too, playing the ball swiftly to Sturridge. As a consequence neither David Luiz nor Terry was forced to come out of position to cover the touchlines.

With only Roberto Soldado in attack, there was little that threatened Petr Cech at close quarters. Perhaps Valencia, having found no encouragement from prodding the ball around in front of Chelsea’s solid group, might have attempted to overload wide and disrupt their opponents’ easy pattern, but instead they played into Chelsea’s perfect tactical instructions.

David Luiz played reliably and responsibly, maintaining both concentration and position. He burst forward only once in the entire game, and curbed his inclination to attempt difficult manoeuvres in inadvisable areas. The Brazilian proved influential in what was a perfect team plan from Villas-Boas, though Valencia proved a dismal disappointment.

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