The Stamford Bridge ‘legend’ returns to fight his old team and keep Albion in the top flight

Roberto Di Matteo can be forgiven for refusing to get carried away with all the talk of an emotional return to Chelsea. The West Bromwich Albion manager spent six years at Stamford Bridge and will always have a special place in the hearts of the Chelsea supporters, but the challenge of taking a promoted club to the home of the champions on the opening day of the season means this is no time to take a journey down memory lane.

Whether that mindset changes when Di Matteo stands on the touchline tomorrow evening and receives a reception befitting a player who scored goals in three Wembley finals and was a key figure behind Chelsea’s renaissance through the late 1990s remains to seen. The word “legend” is banded about far too readily in football but Di Matteo’s name can be found under that heading on the Chelsea website and few of the supporters who watched him would argue that he does not deserve that status.

“There is a lot of warmth from Chelsea fans,” Di Matteo says. “They think a lot of me and it is very generous to be named as one of their legends. There were many more players greater than me, but I had a great connection with [the supporters] from day one and with the club. I have great memories of the time I spent at Stamford Bridge but I am going back there as West Brom’s manager so I will have my club and my team on my mind because I have a job to do.”

A Chelsea career that included a goal on his home debut – which led to that memorable celebration, when Di Matteo and several of his team-mates posed for the cameras lying on the turf – had many seminal moments. There was the goal after 43 seconds in the 1997 FA Cup final against Middlesbrough, another goal against Boro in the League Cup final 12 months later and the winner against Aston Villa in the 2000 FA Cup final.

With two European trophies to add to the collection, it is little wonder he struggles to pick out his fondest memory. “It is really difficult to say,” says the 40-year-old, who was Chelsea’s club-record signing when he joined from Lazio for £4.9m in 1996. “I had such a lot of great times there. The trophies we won, like the Cup-Winners’ Cup, and the European Super Cup against Real Madrid was a great experience, too.”

Di Matteo might well have won several more medals but his career was cut short when he broke his leg in a Uefa Cup tie at the start of the 2000-01 season. Eighteen months later he was forced to announce his retirement at the age of 31, denying him the opportunity to be part of the Roman Abramovich era that catapulted Chelsea into the big time.

After a break from the game, during which he started a property company, enrolled at the London School of Economics and worked as a pundit, Di Matteo accepted a chance to return as manager at MK Dons in 2008. In doing so, he followed in the footsteps of many of his former team-mates, including Gianfranco Zola, Mark Hughes, Dan Petrescu, Dennis Wise, Gus Poyet and Gianluca Vialli, all of whom have managed at one time or another.

Everything that Di Matteo has done so far suggests he is cut out for the job but Albion’s return to the Premier League will present the most severe test yet as he seeks to succeed where his predecessors have failed. “We want to get rid of this reputation of being a yo-yo club,” Di

• £18.2m Ramirez’s work permit appeal accepted
• West Ham lose out on Serbian striker from Ajax

Salomon Kalou has admitted this season may be the last chance for Chelsea’s ageing team to finally win the European Cup.

Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka are all over 30 while John Terry, the captain, and Ashley Cole reach that milestone in December. “That’s the reason why we should win, we should go for every challenge,” said the 25-year-old Ivory Coast international.

“And I think this season will be a great season for Chelsea because this may be the last opportunity for us to win the Champions League or to win more prizes together. Everyone is concerned by that and we have a decent goal and this team is willing to do their best to achieve all those trophies.”

Chelsea won the Double last season in Carlo Ancelotti’s first year in charge and Kalou is confident that they are again the team to beat. “Always. Everyone comes to Stamford Bridge to beat Chelsea because they want to beat the best team,” he added. “And I think this year Manchester [United], Arsenal, Manchester City maybe, or Tottenham or Liverpool, they can challenge Chelsea.”

Most of Chelsea’s players had disappointing times at the World Cup in South Africa, but Kalou believes that will only improve their desire. He said: “Of course, of course. We have good professionals in the team, good experience and people are hungry to win because, at the World Cup, it was not so good for everyone at Chelsea. They have that hunger to win games because we know that the World Cup was a disappointment for everyone.”

While Kalou named Manchester United as Chelsea’s main title rivals he welcomed back Michael Essien, who returned from a knee injury in Sunday’s 3-1 Community Shield defeat to Sir Alex Ferguson’s team after eight months out. “We know how important he is for the team, how important he can be to the whole season, because having him in the team is a bonus,” Kalou said. He dismissed Chelsea’s poor pre-season form, which has seen them lose four successive matches.

“Some players came in at different moments [from the World Cup], and some players didn’t train for one week, so they need time to be fit. It can be a problem but we have the players and the experience of these kind of competitions. I think they will be ready for Saturday, I have no doubt of that,” Kalou said of Chelsea’s season opener against West Bromwich on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

Ricardo Carvalho, who left Stamford Bridge this week to rejoin José Mourinho at Real Madrid in an €8m (£6.6m) deal, said he has wanted to leave for the past two seasons. “I was going to go [to Internazionale] last year but Chelsea did not let me,” he added. “For the last two years I have been very clear that I wanted to leave. I was reaching 30, 31 years of age and I wanted to experience another league but they wouldn’t let me. It was not easy to leave Chelsea.”

Chelsea have been given the go-ahead to complete the £18.2m transfer of Ramires from Benfica after the player was granted a work permit at a tribunal. The clearance came this afternoon, when the assistant manager Ray Wilkins and the club secretary Dave Barnard attended a hearing in London and argued the case for the Brazil midfielder to receive a permit under the special-circumstances clause, given that he has not played the required 75% of international matches over the past two years.

The Brazilian is expected to arrive in London tomorrow to complete the paperwork, although he is unlikely to be considered to face West Bromwich.

West Ham will have to appeal after the Serbian forward Miralem Sulejmani, signed provisionally on loan from Ajax yesterday, saw his work permit application rejected. The 21-year-old, who was not included in his country’s squad for the World Cup finals, had agreed a 12-month deal.

ChelseaDominic FifieldJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk