Despite earlier talk about Didier Drogba taking as much time as he wants to recover his knee, Luiz Felipe Scolari believes the Ivorian could be back as early as the game against Manchester City on Saturday.

Drogba has been missing for Chelsea since his dismissal in last season’s Champions League final although managed to come through a reserves game last week no bother and Scolari says “Didier improves every day and improves every week. He is starting, step-by-step, to arrive in the same situation (in terms of fitness) as last season. Drogba is not completely ready for the game against Manchester City but in my idea he may be possible to play 45 minutes.”

Scolari also has his fingers crossed that John Obi Mikel is another player returning from injury against City, stating “These are the players that I received for training this week, Mikel is in very good condition and Didier grows up every day and grows up every week.” Great news eh? Drogba’s not only recovering from injury but he’s growing up as well!

Anyway, back to the state of the squad and Scolari says “Many players are in national teams and the bad news that we received a few days ago is that Essien has an injury. If they play in the national teams then I am happy about this, but we know about Manchester City and what Chelsea can expect there, it is a big game. We have Thursday and Friday for training, and if they arrive in good condition without injury, then it is okay for us.”

Fingers crossed then.

Filed under: Current Players, Rants