AFP/London
Chelsea veteran Didier Drogba insisted yesterday he intended to play for at least one more season. The 37-year-old Ivory Coast forward is out of contract with the Premier League leaders at the end of the current campaign, having returned to Stamford Bridge after two seasons abroad.
Drogba, asked if he had decided on his future, said: “Yes I have and it’s not going to be my last season.”
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said last week he had still to speak to Drogba regarding his future. “We have a lot of talks to do,” Mourinho said. “I don’t know what he wants. “There are people who, during their careers, earn the right and the power to make decisions and not wait for others to make decisions for them. “What he did at this club for so many years puts him in a great position.”
Mourinho, then in his first spell as Chelsea manager, signed Drogba from Marseille in 2004.
The powerful forward scored 157 goals in his initial eight-year stint with Chelsea, including the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final shoot-out victory.
However, Drogba has been largely a squad player this season and made just his fourth league start of the season in Sunday’s 1-0 west London derby away to Queens Park Rangers after injuries to Diego Costa and Loic Remy.
Drogba could start against Manchester United this Saturday as Chelsea look to move one step closer to clinching the English top-flight title.
“It’s difficult when you don’t play and then have to go into these kind of games,” he said. “But I always try to give my best.
“I tried to give the best of my physical capacity against QPR, so if the manager needs me against United and Arsenal, I’m ready.”
Mourinho hails Cech’s exemplary attitude
Petr Cech may not have been on the field much—he has started only four Premier League games this season—but manager Jose Mourinho still believes he has made a significant contribution to Chelsea’s cause.
The giant Czech Republic goalkeeper is in his 11th season at Stamford Bridge having played more than 480 times for Chelsea, but for the first time, has had to play second fiddle as an understudy to young Belgium stopper Thibaut Courtois.
Cech, 32, and with many seasons still ahead of him, gave a clear indication last month that he was unwilling to accept the situation for a second campaign but his commitment to Chelsea’s title charge has not been lost on Mourinho.
“Cech is absolutely fantastic,” the Portuguese told reporters after his team restored their seven-point lead at the top of the table with a 1-0 victory at Queens Park Rangers on Sunday.
“His attitude is amazing. Before the game he told the captain (John Terry) to choose a certain end if he won the toss because at 1:30pm it would be better to play in a certain goal because of the sun.
“And he was not playing, he was thinking of Courtois. With this attitude Petr deserves everything.”
Chelsea were a long way short of their best against relegation-threatened Rangers and needed Courtois to pull off several fine saves to keep them in the game before Cesc Fabregas sealed a smash-and-grab victory with a late goal. “Defensively we were very strong all game including at set-pieces against big guys who are good in the air,” said Mourinho.
“Obviously Courtois was there for us. I told him during the week...after Charlie Adam... we needed him to give us a couple of points with a couple of saves and he did it.” The Belgian suffered an embarrassing fate eight days earlier when he was lobbed from beyond the halfway line by Scotland midfielder Adam in Chelsea’s 2-1 home win over Stoke City.
Mourinho’s men have seven games left to play, with third-placed Manchester United the visitors to Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and they are now odds-on favourites to add the Premier League trophy to the League Cup they won last month.