• Brazilian confident he is well-equipped able to handle himself
• Midfielder called ‘Blue Kenyan’ at Cruzeiro for his strength

Chelsea’s most significant signing of the summer, the £18.2m Brazilian Ramires, believes he has the resilience and aggression to flourish in the Premier League with the former Benfica midfielder expected to be involved at some stage against Stoke this afternoon.

The 23-year-old is slender of frame and was nicknamed the “Blue Kenyan” while at Cruzeiro, where his energy and ability to dominate midfield caught the eyes of scouts from the Portuguese club and prompted his £5m move to Lisbon a year ago. Ramires is most likely to be utilised at the base of Chelsea’s midfield, in a role currently held by Mikel John Obi, but he can be employed across the middle with the physical reputation of the Premier League clearly holding few fears.

“I understand what this league is all about,” said Ramires. “I’ve watched it on the television and I know that physical strength is the main part of the English game. But I’m hard, too. I’m tough. I hope I can build up my strength to be on the same level as everyone else, but it’s already hard to put me down. I’ve been away from Brazil for over a year now, playing in Europe. I know the football in Portugal isn’t as physical as it is over here, sure, but it’s still tough.

“I know tackles will be flying in, and it’ll be aggressive, but I can do that too. I know what to expect. It won’t be a surprise for me. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in, too. I like that side to the game and I can stand up for myself. People called me the ‘Blue Kenyan’ [Cruzeiro played in blue] because I put so much hard work on the pitch and never stop running. But I’m a tackler, too. It’s been a characteristic of my style in the past, so I’m relishing that side of the game over here.”

Ramires hails from Barra do Pirai in Rio de Janeiro and his rise to prominence was relatively swift. As a 16-year-old he was combining football training as a youngster at Joinville, a small club in Santa Catarina, with work on a building site to earn extra money for his family.

“I’d work Tuesday and Thursdays from 7am to 4pm, then go to football practice afterwards, and then 7 to 11am on Saturday,” he said. “I was earning between 80 and 100 reals (£30-35) every 15 days. I’m not ashamed of that. That experience made me the man I am today, giving me the character I am now. When I look back at that time, it helps me keep my feet on the ground. Everything I do is about helping my family back home, and that hasn’t changed. All those experiences, working hard as I did, made me what I am today. For now, I just want to make my mark here at Chelsea. The team have been playing wonderful football, and I want to be a part of that.”

Carlo Ancelotti, who will be without Branislav Ivanovic with a back complaint this afternoon, does not anticipate making any more signings before the end of the month and is content with the strength of his squad after 6-0 victories home and away at the start of the new campaign. “For us, the transfer window is closed already,” he said.Copy ends

ChelseaDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

Chelsea’s Italian manager, who sees defence as his main priority, is slightly bemused by his free-scoring team

Carlo Ancelotti could offer no real explanation. The Italian surveyed a goal tally the like of which Chelsea, as a top-flight side, have not revelled in since the mid-1960s and summoned something approaching a bemused shrug as if contemplating where it had all gone so wrong. “I don’t consider myself an attacking coach,” he said. “I am Italian, and the mind-set of Italian football is defensive. The team that wins Serie A is not usually the side that scores the most, but the one that concedes the least. But, here, we are in England.”

At Old Trafford tomorrow lunchtime, the division’s most prolific side have an opportunity to wrest back the advantage in the title race. If Chelsea were unnerved by their Champions League elimination by Internazionale in a stuttering six-week period, then their recovery in their past two games has been as timely as it was stunning. Portsmouth and Aston Villa, the latter who started last Saturday with the joint best defensive record in the division, were dismissed to the tune of 12 goals in two matches, swelling the team’s tally to 82 in the league and 115 in competitive fixtures this term.

What made the thrashing of Villa all the more remarkable was that it was conducted with Didier Drogba, the club’s leading scorer with 30 goals this season, putting his feet up on the home bench. In his absence, the 4-2-3-1 formation used at Fratton Park was moulded into a Christmas tree 4-3-2-1, Nicolas Anelka taking the lone striker’s brief, and Chelsea were still untouchable. Frank Lampard is enjoying one of his trademark scoring bursts and boasts 21 goals. Florent Malouda, the team’s most improved player, has scored five in five and 13 this season, dazzling as he rips forward down the left. There is pace, power and panache in this side which is propelling their pursuit of domestic honours.

While the other title contenders have spent this week surveying the desperate fallout from Champions League contests that left key combatants Wayne Rooney and Cesc Fábregas on crutches, Ancelotti’s principal concern has been how to incorporate the array of attacking options at his disposal. Drogba’s absence last weekend was temporary and the Ivorian will return tomorrow, despite the kick on the knee suffered in training this week and the hernia that has been troubling him for four months. Yet, having plundered at will with midfielders supplementing a lone forward, the Chelsea manager must consider whether the front pairing with Anelka, last year’s leading Premier League scorer and so impressive at times this term, is his best option.

The Frenchman sustained this team while Drogba was at the Africa Cup of Nations but has not scored since January in the victory at Burnley some 11 matches ago, though he has retained a creative spark through his lean spell. Anelka would normally command a place in Ancelotti’s first-choice line-up – he was excellent against Villa – yet the 31-year-old has never been comfortable when asked to play in effect as a winger. At United, the inclusion of Joe Cole or Salomon Kalou on the right, or even the incorporation of Michael Ballack in midfield, would not be a surprise.

It is a pleasant dilemma for Ancelotti to confront. “Up to December, Drogba and Anelka did a fantastic job together,” he said. “Everyone was surprised at the start of the season that they could play together, but they have experience, quality and strength and did very well, if not in the last few games. The position Anelka plays in a game depends upon his feeling. He likes to move, sometimes left or right, or behind [a forward]. I’ve never given him a precise position to play. I want him to move how he wants to. Playing with him and Drogba is an option, one of the options we have. As for Didier, now he’s fit he has to play.”

The possible omission of Anelka is less of a surprise given how productive this team is proving from midfield. It has been Chelsea’s fluid movement that has been truly irresistible at times this season, Deco’s recent unexpected return to form offering rhythmic passing while the energy around him unsettles opponents. The lone forward has rarely been short of close assistance.

Ancelotti worked with the likes of Kaká and Ronaldinho at Milan, yet he described Lampard as “unique”. “He is very dangerous,” he said. “[Darren] Fletcher and [Michael] Carrick are fantastic also, but Lampard has such good timing to get into the box that it’s difficult to block him if you go man-to-man against him. He’s a very dynamic player, but it is his timing that is his most important quality. I wasn’t aware of that when I first came here.”

So much of this first campaign in English football has proved an eye-opener for the Italian, and not least the attack-minded play he has coaxed from his side. His baffled reaction to his side’s reputation as great entertainers suggests all this is so out of character. “I do like to hurt the opposition, of course, but I like defence first and foremost, and balance,” added Ancelotti.

“That is the first priority, to avoid conceding goals and counter-attacks. But this team’s idea is to attack and control the game that way. This is the most difficult game [in the Premier League] to achieve that, but we all know that the destiny of the title will be in the hands of the side that wins this match.”

ChelseaCarlo AncelottiPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk