Mar 10

Petr Cech expected to return for Chelsea ahead of schedule

• Goalkeeper should be fit to face Blackburn in nine days’ time
• Henrique Hilário to start against Internazionale

Petr Cech is confident of returning to the Chelsea first team ahead of schedule for their Premier League game against Blackburn Rovers in nine days’ time, his rehabilitation from a calf injury progressing encouragingly, although Henrique Hilário will be in goal against Internazionale for the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie next week.

The Czech tore a calf muscle having leapt unchallenged to claim a cross after an hour of the first leg at San Siro and departed in discomfort on a stretcher with his side trailing 2-1.

A scan confirmed the injury and Chelsea were expected to be without their first-choice goalkeeper for a month, potentially ruling him out of four Premier League matches as well as FA Cup and Champions League ties. That diagnosis may now be revised, with a return for the televised game against Blackburn on 21 March more realistic after the 27-year-old made steady progress in recovery.

His absence was keenly felt when Manchester City exploited Hilário’s rustiness to win 4-2 at Stamford Bridge last month, the title challengers’ first home defeat in 38 matches, but Chelsea will have to rely on their recently capped Portuguese goalkeeper as they seek to progress beyond Inter and into the Champions League quarter-finals.

The 34-year-old Hilário, a perennial understudy to Cech since moving to west London from Madeira’s Nacional in 2006, made his international debut as a second-half substitute in a 2-0 friendly victory over China this month, though his opportunities to impress at club level have been limited.

He kept a somewhat unconvincing clean sheet in the FA Cup at home to Stoke City last Sunday and will play against West Ham United on Saturday before facing José Mourinho’s Inter side.

Yuri Zhirkov, troubled by his own calf problems in recent weeks, returned to training with the first-team squad at Cobham today and may now be available for the visit of West Ham.

ChelseaPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

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Mar 09

Nicolas Anelka and Chelsea begin talks over contract extension to 2013

• Club and striker confident of swift agreement
• Talks over Joe Cole’s new deal remain deadlocked

Chelsea have opened talks with Nicolas Anelka’s representative over extending the France striker’s stay at Stamford Bridge. The 30-year-old’s current contract expires at the end of next season, with discussions now under way to keep him at the club until 2013.

Anelka’s adviser, Doug Pingisi, was in London last week for preliminary discussions with both club and player confident negotiations will be concluded swiftly. The Frenchman moved to Chelsea from Bolton Wanderers for £15m and has been one of their most consistent performers over the last two campaigns, scoring 19 league goals last season.

His form, which has led to eight league goals to date this term though none since January, has impressed Carlo Ancelotti. “Anelka is a top player and this club needs to have a lot of top players,” the Italian said recently. “I’m confident he’ll stay with us. The club will try to find the right solution for both Chelsea and for him.”

The speed at which negotiations are expected to be favourably concluded contrasts markedly with the currently deadlocked talks with Joe Cole. The England midfielder, an unused substitute in Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over Stoke City, is seeking to increase his wages from £80,000 a week to nearer those of the higher earners at the west London club with compromise yet to be reached.

Both Chelsea and Cole – who was absent for seven months up to September after suffering a serious knee injury – remain hopeful that a deal can still be struck that will extend the player’s seven-year stay beyond the end of the season, when his current deal is due to expire. “Joe’s had a very traumatic time with his knee, and you get highs and lows,” said the assistant manager Ray Wilkins when asked about the midfielder’s recent dip in form. “But he’ll play plenty of games for Chelsea.”

Ashley Cole is expected to return to Cobham after the weekend after a spell undertaking rehabilitation on his fractured ankle in the south of France. The England full-back’s progress has been steady since he underwent surgery on the joint broken in a challenge with Landon Donovan at Everton last month, and he remains confident that he will prove his fitness well ahead of the summer’s World Cup finals.

ChelseaPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

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Mar 09

Shaun Wright-Phillips and Chelsea face questions over unlicensed agent

• Claims that unlicensed go-between helped set up 2005 deal
• FA investigating, with fines or even points deduction possible

The Football Association is considering whether Shaun Wright-Phillips and Chelsea could face charges for dealing with an unlicensed agent, Mitchell Thomas, when Wright-Phillips moved to Stamford Bridge from Manchester City in July 2005. The investigation by the FA follows the outcome of a case brought by the Law Society against a solicitor, Timothy Drukker, who signed off the paperwork in the Wright‑Phillips deal but paid Thomas part of the £1.2m fee which Chelsea paid him.

If the FA does find that Thomas, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Luton Town defender, was involved in negotiating the deal, they could bring charges against Wright-Phillips and Chelsea. Penalties range from warnings to fines and even points deductions.

The Wright-Phillips transfer is the 17th deal, previously unidentified, handed over to the FA by Quest, the investigators the Premier League hired to conduct the so-called “bungs inquiry” into transfers by its clubs between 1

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