Chelsea to lose Essien until early February

CHELSEA WERE last night coming to terms with the reality of losing Michael Essien until February after a scan on the midfielder’s damaged right hamstring revealed a tear that will rule him out for three to four weeks.

His absence with the injury will then be compounded by his anticipated inclusion in Ghana’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, a three-week tournament that begins next month with the final on January 31st.

Essien sustained the injury lunging for a loose ball during Chelsea’s Champions League group game with Apoel Nicosia on Tuesday night and, while it is too soon to determine whether the 27-year-old will be fit enough to start the finals in Angola, his predicted recovery time would offer Ghana encouragement that he could feature at some stage in the competition.

It seems likely that Ghana – who have seen their captain, Bologna’s Stephen Appiah, struck down with a calf injury that will sideline him for a similar time – will want Essien to complete his recovery with them at the tournament.

Fifa rules entitle them to call up their squad members two weeks before the finals begin.

The loss is a significant blow to Carlo Ancelotti, whose side’s lead at the top of the Premier League was cut to two points after last Saturday’s defeat at Manchester City.

The Ghanaian’s dynamism has been impressive in recent weeks, yet a recent spate of injuries – Frank Lampard, Salomon Kalou, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa and now Essien have all suffered thigh or hamstring strains in recent months – will trouble the Italian and his assistant, Bruno Demichelis, who prided themselves at Milan on their preventative treatments aimed at maximising resistance to such problems.

The pace and physicality of the game in England compared with life in Serie A may require those techniques to be tweaked to prove effective in the Premier League.

The injury provided a depressing subplot to a dispiriting evening at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Ancelotti made his frustrations known to his players in the wake of the draw with Apoel as he attempts to eradicate the sudden vulnerability that has seen the team ship seven goals in their last three winless matches.

John Mikel Obi, who will initially be considered the Londoners’ first-choice holding midfielder in Essien’s absence, made a dreadful error three minutes from time to present the Cypriots with their equaliser.

“I was going to play the ball back to JT but the striker anticipated it and when he had the ball, I couldn’t get him,” he said. “It was a very big mistake from me, but the mistake is done now. I take responsibility for it but I think overall we didn’t play well enough in the second half. The manager was really, really mad with the way we played in the second half.

“We had lost the last two games and playing at home we should have won. We played well in the first half but the second half we didn’t move the ball quickly and you could smell the danger coming. It is good that we are now playing two games at home (against Everton and Portsmouth).”

GuardianService

United rule out move for Campbell

MANCHESTER UNITED’S makeshift squad returned from Tuesday night’s victory at Wolfsburg bolstered by the news that several established names are due to return against Aston Villa on Saturday, writes Louise Taylor.

Alex Ferguson’s side beat the German champions without 15 senior players, 13 of them out with illness or injury but Nemanja Vidic Ryan Giggs, Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney are all scheduled to return at home to Villa. With injury ruling out Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea until the new year and Wes Brown also unavailable, Ferguson will be forced once again to field two midfielders in his defence.

“With Vidic coming back I should be able to have a back four of Darren Fletcher, Vidic, Michael Carrick and Patrice Evra against Villa,” said United’s manager.

However, a United source has dismissed reports that Ferguson could sign the former England central defender and current free agent Sol Campbell, who left Notts County in September, as “nonsense”.