Chelsea and thousands of Fantasy Football Managers are currently sweating on the fitness of Ashley Cole after the left-back limped from the field in last night’s 2-1 defeat at Everton. Cole was replaced on 57 minutes after suffering further problems with his ankle following a heavy challenge from Landon Donovan.
Right now, all we have to go on are a few reports and the mixed messages from Chelsea’s assistant boss Ray Wilkins after the match…
“He has taken quite a nasty knock…He has got a slight problem with his ankle but we will get back to Cobham and assess the situation.”
Pretty vague stuff, although given that Cole’s ankle problems have now been ongoing for several weeks, we can’t automatically write this off as simply a knock. Cole will surely be spared in Chelsea’s FA Cup tie with Cardiff this weekend, but it will be the trip to Wolves a week on Saturday that his fantasy owners will be more concerned about. With Chelsea set to face Inter Milan in the Champions League the following Wednesday, there’s every chance that Ancelotti could rest his first choice left-back if there is continued doubt over the ankle.
Ancelotti does of course have a ready made replacement for Cole in Yuri Zhirkov, a player who has been plagued by injury but who is now fit and no doubt craving opportunities for a starting role.