Hereβs some last minute team news revelations from the Chelsea camp β well, maybe not revelations, but certainly handy confirmations. Carlo Ancelotti has announced a partial lineup for todayβs clash with Everton via Chelsea TV exclusive published just this morningβ¦
βFernando Torres will play, Petr Cech will play, John Terry will play from the start, Alex will play, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard.β
The Chelsea boss also confirmed that he will be without Jose Bosingwa, Ramires and Youssi Benayoun for the Goodison encounter.
The list of confirmations is significant in that it suggests that David Luiz will again sit out having been dropped to the bench for the 2-2 draw with Newcastle. Weβre likely to see the same back four at Everton that started that game, with Branislav Ivanovic at right-back.
Moving to midfield and the inclusion of Lampard is no surprise but at least reassuring to his owners. The absence of Ramires could be significant however β he started against the Magpies to be replaced in the second-half by Florent Malouda β the Frenchman could now earn a recall to the side for todayβs game along with Michael Essien who may come in for Chelseaβs Young Player of the Year Josh McEachran.
The mention for Torres would suggest a start up front and that could well mean that Didier Drogba finds himself on the bench having had to settle for substitute appearance against Newcastle. Ancelotti could also go with both strikers of course having started with Benayoun in a 4-3-3 last weekend. Nothing is certain then β but at least Ancelotti has lived up to his billing as the Fantasy Managerβs friend by giving us some strong leads.
