Anelka gives Scolari reasons to be cheerful

Chelsea 5 AC Milan 0:LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI is resigned to beginning the new campaign with Nicolas Anelka as his only recognised first-team striker with Didier Drogba regaining his fitness as he recovers from a long-standing knee injury.

The Chelsea manager will have drawn encouragement here from Anelka's excellent performance which gleaned four goals in a 5-0 rout of an under-strength Milan in the Railways Cup yesterday.

The France international finished as the team's top scorer on their pre-season tour with six goals in five appearances - he had scored only twice in his first six months at the club - and Scolari will lean heavily on the 29-year-old in Drogba's absence.

The Brazilian has been in regular contact with the medical staff at the club's Cobham training base for updates on the Ivorian's fitness. "I speak to the doctor every day and he gives me a report," said Scolari. "Didier's getting better and has started to train on the field. He has a fitness coach there working with him and, next week, I hope he will be ready to start training with us. But he will not be available for the first game.

"It is important that he is fully fit and in good shape. If he plays too soon and is not really ready, it will not be good for him and it will not be good for us. He will only play when he is in good condition again.

"If not, we risk losing him for longer. You never know when you have problems with your knee but he won't be playing in the first game. He should be back for the third game of the season."

That would most likely see him available for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Stamford Bridge on August 31st.

Drogba's future at the club had appeared in doubt over the summer, with the player having been unsettled last season, but Scolari and the club's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, have since reiterated that the forward would remain in London. Talks have as yet not begun on a potential new contract - Drogba has two years to run on his current deal - though there remains the possibility of him extending his stay.

There was also a return for Michael Ballack at the Lokomotiv stadium yesterday, the German playing his first football of pre-season before being withdrawn at the interval against the Rossoneri, though it was Anelka who caught the eye.

The Frenchman was irrepressible, albeit against a porous defence and with the Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac mustering an almost comical performance.

Chelsea led 3-0 after 18 minutes with Anelka adding his third and fourth goals before the hour mark. With Andriy Shevchenko still working on his fitness, Salomon Kalou at the Olympic Games and Franco di Santo just beginning to make his mark, the Frenchman has quickly become key.

"It was important for Anelka, but more important for me to help generate more confidence for this player," said Scolari. "He's one of the players that we will look to this season. He played with more quality and freedom and it is fantastic for his confidence to score four times against a team like Milan.

"He believes in himself more and the other players believe in him more. That is the best outcome. He played more in the penalty area than before. I'd asked him to do that because I want him in the middle, not on the left or the right. That is more important at the moment because we have only one striker and that is Anelka."

The reality that he was often employed out wide last term following his €19 million arrival from Bolton in January, often with Drogba playing through the middle, contributed to his meagre goal tally since moving to the club. Others provided the width and invention yesterday, the excellent Florent Malouda crossing expertly for the two second-half rewards after Anelka had volleyed his first of the afternoon beyond Kalac following Giuseppe Favalli's inadvertent knock-down.

Chelsea already boasted a lead by then courtesy of Frank Lampard's free-kick which drifted through a clutch of players, flicking off Daniele Bonera and dribbling through Kalac's legs.

The Australian duly air-kicked Marek Jankulovski's back-pass to allow Anelka to tap into an empty net, with Roman Abramovich enjoying the scene from a box up in the gods of the arena.

Scolari will assess his players over the next fortnight at Cobham before the opening league game against Portsmouth, but admitted he had pencilled in "85 per cent of the team". He could yet add the Real Madrid forward Robinho to his ranks before then with the Brazilian understood to have informed the club's manager, Bernd Schuster, and president, Ramon Calderon, that he wants to swap the Bernabeu for Stamford Bridge.