Scolari confident his panel can cope in Drogba's absence

PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS:LUIZ FELIPE Scolari has revealed he sought divine intervention during the worrying period after Didier Drogba had damaged his knee ligaments in the 0-0 Champions League draw at CFR Cluj on Wednesday night.

The Chelsea manager, a devout Catholic, said he had "asked to my God" to look after his leading striker, who had only just returned to the team after an injury to his other knee. "But God helped me," said Scolari yesterday, as he reflected on the scan that showed no serious damage to Drogba's ligaments.

"After the game I was apprehensive about him, I was afraid, because I saw Didier's face in the dressingroom. I thought maybe I would lose him for a long time. But when the doctors said to me, 'Look Felipe, [it is] nothing about his cruciate', I was relieved and more confident. I think that in one month, maximum, he is starting to play again.

"I prayed for Didier because he is part of my family, all of the players are my family. I asked to my God to say 'Look for this player because he tries to play for three months now, he works hard and he is starting [in the team again]'. I think he listened and gave to Didier one more chance to play next month."

When Scolari took charge of Chelsea in July he inherited a squad of 32 players of which Ben Sahar, the young striker, was already out on loan to Portsmouth. Scolari felt it was bloated and he resolved to trim it to 24 or 25.

The club sold the defenders Tal Ben Haim and Khalid Boulahrouz, the midfielders Claude Makelele, Steve Sidwell and Shaun Wright-Phillips, and the striker Andriy Shevchenko. Another striker, Claudio Pizarro, was loaned to Werder Bremen.

The decision to sell Shevchenko appeared to be linked to the expected arrival of Robinho from Real Madrid who, together with the midfielder Deco represented Scolari's transfer wish list.

Yet Robinho was seduced at the last moment by Manchester City, backed by their new-found Arab millions, and with Drogba injured, Chelsea now look short up front.

Scolari has insisted Chelsea's squad is big enough to mount a title challenge. But with Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien out of action, his squad has been stretched already. However the manager is not a man to dwell on the past. Although he accepts Robinho would have offered his squad a different dimension he is perfectly happy with the striking options at his disposal.

"I have three," said Scolari, ahead of tomorrow's home fixture against Aston Villa. "I have [Salomon] Kalou, [Franco] Di Santo and Nicolas Anelka. I believe in these players. You know that Anelka has made 10 goals this season? That is fantastic. Joe Cole has made four, Kalou four, Malouda two, Di Santo two. I am not afraid because of the injury to Drogba. Maybe Aston Villa are more confident because they look at our injuries but they would be crazy to think it will be easy."

Anelka did not train yesterday because of a muscle spasm but he is expected to be fit, while minor knocks that prevented Ashley Cole and Alex from training are not thought to be serious. Scolari said captain John Terry's back complaint would not keep him out.

"He's a man who won't accept he has pain," said Scolari. "Some players act like little babies when they have something but Terry needs to be told not to train, even when he is on one leg."

Scolari is still wary, though, of the threat Villa will pose to Chelsea's amazing unbeaten home record in the Premier League.

It will be the first time he has met Villa boss Martin O'Neill, with the pair both in the running for the England job before it was eventually given to Steve McClaren.

"It is a chance for me to talk to Martin and say that I appreciate his job and his team. But we need to win.

"They have been fantastic, they have one less point than us so it is a big game. We respect them and more, we have looked at many DVDs of them. We remember last season it was 4-4," added Scolari.

One of the reasons Scolari declined the England post was reported to be the intrusive media he would be faced with but he has no complaints since arriving at Chelsea. "When I arrived here I was afraid of the media, but not now," he said. When shown a picture of Joe Kinnear following the interim Newcastle coach's foul-mouthed blast of his critics in the press, Scolari added: "He is a coach? I don't know him. I am a man of peace."

Guardian Service