Drogba wins Footballer of the Year

Sun, 2nd Dec 2007

Didier Drogba has won the BBC London Footballer of the Year award 2007. He becomes the fourth consecutive Chelsea player to win this prestigious award following in the footsteps of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Joe Cole.

Pete Stevens, Sports Editor and Chairman of the selection panel, said: 'Didier was the unanimous choice of the panel.
'He has had an exceptional year proving that he was not only the leading striker in the Premier League, but also in Europe.
'His thrilling style of play and spectacular goals played a large part in the Blues success in winning two Cup Finals.'Didier took first place from Arsenal's young Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who was runner-up, and Tottenham Hotspur's captain Robbie Keane who finished third.

Still More to Come

Fri, 30th Nov 2007

Avram Grant has expressed his desire for Chelsea to be successful in all competitions this season, and reiterated his pleasure with the football being played by his side.

Our unbeaten run in all competitions now stretches to 13 games, in which time we have scored 30 goals, and Grant believes there is still more to come from what he considers a strong squad.
'If you are speaking about the game on Wednesday we played very well, and the last two or three months we are playing good football,' he said.

There is an ambitious streak that runs through the Israeli, and he confirmed he is looking for Chelsea to be challengers on all fronts this campaign.
'We want to succeed in the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup, everything,' he said.

Grant will be hoping the run continues tomorrow as we look to make it 70 league games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge, against a West Ham side that is unbeaten in six games.

Hammers manager Alan Curbishley has reason to be a happy man at the moment, particularly with ex-Blues forward Carlton Cole, but prior to tomorrow's meeting has suggested the top teams such as ourselves receive preferential treatment from referees.
Grant disagrees, and uses the examples of John Mikel Obi, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien to support him.
'I don't think he believes that, it's a psychology war,' he suggested. 'He [Curbishley] can say everything but we can see the facts. Three red cards against us in the last three months, not one of them was a red card, so if this is a privilege, I don't want to think about it.'

Grant confirmed that there was no news on the injury front, as the group that travelled to Norway are all fit, and none of the injured number are fit to return. There was though encouraging words on Michael Ballack, who appeared for the reserves on Monday evening.
'I think a few weeks,' Grant said, when asked when the midfielder's return to first team action may be. ' He is fit now, it's just a matter of conditioning and to make sure everything is okay with his ankle.'

Avram Grant was also happy to have guaranteed qualification from Champions League Group B, as well as considering Sunday's FA Cup third round draw.
'It's good to qualify one game before the end because we have a lot of games in front of us, three games in a week, except next week, so it's good,' he said.
'We want to succeed in all the competitions, it doesn't matter if we hold the FA Cup or not. You can't belong to the big clubs and not succeed in competitions. We have the chance to do it. First we have a game tomorrow, and then we take care of the others.'

Match Report: Rosenborg 0 - Chelsea 4

Thu, 29th Nov 2007

Chelsea sealed qualification for the knockout phases of the Champions League on Wednesday evening with a scintillating performance at Rosenborg.
The Blues were superb from first to last, opening the scoring inside five minutes and never looking back, as Didier Drogba bagged himself two goals, while Alex and Joe Cole completed the scoring.
The resounding win guarantees Chelsea top Group B, and progress to the knockout stages in February.

It was a bitterly cold night inside the open-cornered Lerkendal stadium, which made for difficult conditions in which top football could be played. Indeed the Norwegian league season was concluded in late October, and so competitive games in these parts are rare in late November.
Chelsea arrived expecting a difficult game, but both Carlo Cudicini and Avram Grant had maintained the weather would have no impact on the outcome of the game, and so it proved as Rosenborg were brushed aside.

By the eighth minute, Chelsea's obvious early superiority was confirmed. Once again it was Drogba in the thick of things, firing home the rebound after Joe Cole's enterprising run and shot had been parried by Rosenborg keeper Lars Hirschfeld.

By the 20th minute, the lead was doubled as Drogba grabbed his fourth Champions League goal this season. The hard work was done by Essien, whose terrier-like spirit in the middle won the ball, and Wright-Phillips, who was as fleet-footed and skilful as anyone has seen since his arrival at the Bridge.

A foul on Joe Cole allowed Alex the opportunity to unleash a trademark free-kick, but unlike the rocket at Middlesbrough, this goal was a rather tame effort, deceiving Hirschfeld, and sealing Chelsea's progression into the knockout stages.

It only took four minutes for the lead to increase, Shevchenko involved as Joe Cole netted from close range, having won possession out on the left flank. A minute later, the Ukrainian should have made it five, dragging a low shot wide after making space for himself inside the box.

After sealing qualification on a cold night in Trondheim, Chelsea's Champions League campaign is just hotting up.

Rosenborg (4-3-1-2) Hirschfeld; Stoor, Kvarme, Riseth (c), Dorsin (Basma 85); Skjelbred, Traore (Strand 55), Tettey; Sapara; Kone (Konan Ya 62), Iversen.

Chelsea (4-3-3) Cudicini; Belletti, Alex, Terry (c), A Cole; Essien, Makelele, Lampard (Pizarro 75); Wright-Phillips (Kalou 68), Drogba (Shevchenko 68), J Cole.

Goals: Drogba 7, 20 Alex 39 J Cole 72.

Team News: Rosenborg v Chelsea

Wed, 28th Nov 2007

Didier Drogba has recovered sufficiently from a knee injury to start and will be flanked in a 4-3-3 shape by Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole.
Champions League expert Claude Makelele comes in for John Mikel Obi, Alex replaces Tal Ben-Haim at the back and Steve Sidwell makes way for Michael Essien.
Saturday scorer Salomon Kalou returns to the bench.
Rosenborg name the same side that won well in Valencia last time out. Former Tottenham striker, who scored twice in Mestalla, will be parterned by Burkina Faso international Yssouf Koné.

Fredrik Stoorn is preferred at right-back to veteran defender Roar Strand. Miika Koppinen, who scored the Rosenborg goal at the Bridge, is on the bench.
The weather is just a couple of degrees below freezing with light drizzle.

Chelsea are expected to line up in a 4-3-3 formation as follows:

23 Carlo Cudicini

35 Juliano Belletti

33 Alex

26 John Terry (c)

3 Ashley Cole

5 Michael Essien

4 Claude Makelele

8 Frank Lampard

24 Shaun Wright-Phillips

11 Didier Drogba

10 Joe Cole

Subs: 40 Hilario, 22 Tal Ben-Haim, 18 Wayne Bridge, 12 John Mikel Obi, 21 Salomon Kalou, 14 Claudio Pizarro, 7 Andriy Shevchenko.

Rosenborg are expected to line up in a 4-3-1-2 as follows:

Hirschfeld; Stoor, Kvarme, Riseth, Dorsin; Skjelbred, Tettey, Traoré; Sapara, Koné, Iversen.
Subs: Lund Hansen, Koppinen, Basma, Strand, Ya, Storflor, Nordvik.

The referee is Olegário Benquerença of Portugal.

Drogba likely to return

Tue, 27th Nov 2007

Avram Grant is hopeful that Didier Drogba will be fit to face Rosenborg tomorrow night, and insists we will not be underestimating our opponents.

Drogba missed Saturday's win at Derby, but after training with the team on Monday, and in the Lerkendal stadium this evening, he is expected to appear as we aim to seal our place in the Champions League knockout stages.

Speaking on Drogba, Grant said: "We are before training so I cannot tell you 100 percent, but I think he will be fit for tomorrow."

The clash is the follow-up to September's 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, which marked Jose Mourinho's last match as manager. Since then Rosenborg have gone on to shock Valencia twice, and currently sit second in Group B, behind Chelsea.

'Rosenborg is a big surprise. It's many games, but to beat Valencia twice is not easy. If they qualify now it's no surprise, before yes,' Grant admitted.
'I was with the team at the last game. and I saw them [Rosenborg] against Maccabi Haifa two years ago. Every opponent of us we know everything before the game, and they know everything about us, so we need to wait and see.'
A win would see us guarantee our progression into the knockout phases, extending our Champions League season until at least February, and Grant believes we must play with this as our aim, in spite of another group game still to go.

'All my life in football I didn't say we'd take a draw. We want to win even here. We know we are playing a very good team. We remember the first game, it was not so good for us, but most important is we qualify,' he maintained.
'The players like to win. We are not happy from a draw at home, we remember this game, it feels like a long time ago, but half of the stadium was empty, and supporters were booing us at half-time. The result was not so good but since then we won a lot of games, and are in a better position in the Champions League.'
Drogba's probable return fails to mask our seemingly ever-present injury list, with the squad still lacking Petr Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Florent Malouda and Michael Ballack.

'We hope Petr Cech will be available at the end of the week and will see at the time. Paulo Ferreira maybe, Carvalho will take longer but quicker than we thought,' Grant explained, adding: 'I think in one week Malouda will be ok, he also suffered an injury. It was not good because he was in good condition, but this is football. I am hoping I will see 85 per cent of the squad fit.
Ballack had a run out in the reserves last night, and Grant is upbeat about the German's progress after being out for seven months with an ankle injury.
'In a few weeks we will see him back, he played 45 minutes in a reserve game, he felt good, after a long time with injury. If it continues like this I think we will see him back. He's very important to our team and we are waiting for him,' said the Israeli.

Ballack plays for Reserves tonight

Mon, 26th Nov 2007

Michael Ballack will make a welcome return to playing action tonight when he starts for Chelsea's reserve side in a game at Brentford FC's Griffin Park.

The match, which can be seen live for free by Sky subscribers on Chelsea TV, will be the German international captain's first competitive football for seven months.

He left the field due to injury during the first team game at St. James' Park last April and has since undergone two operations on his ankle.

Birmingham City are tonight's visitors in what is the first home game for the reserves in seven weeks. Ballack will provide experience in what is otherwise a very youthful Chelsea line-up.

Frank Nouble, a schoolboy who has started three games and made four substitute appearances for the youth team this season, scoring twice, will lead the attack and there is also a place in midfield for Gaël Kakuta, a France Under 17 international who will be making his first start at this level.
Goalkeeper Rhys Taylor, defender Patrick van Aanholt, midfielder Lee Sawyer and winger Miroslav Stoch have all been away with their countries at junior international level in recent weeks. Stoch scored four goals in three matches for Slovakia Under 19s.

Chelsea's reserve team manager Brendan Rodgers will be keen to see his players respond to the challenge with a good display, the second string having lost the last four games.

The full Chelsea team is:

Rhys Taylor; Shaun Cummings, Adrian Pettigrew, Harry Worley, Patrick van Aanholt; Liam Bridcutt (c), Gael Kakuta, Michael Ballack, Lee Sawyer; Frank Nouble, Miroslav Stoch.

Subs: Stuart Searle, Carl Magnay, Jeffrey Bruma, Jacob Mellis, James Simmonds.

Birmingham:

Colin Doyle; Olivier Tebily, Mat Sadler, Sebastian Larsson, Radhi Jaidi; Franck Queudrue, Stuart Parnaby, Damien Johnson, Jamie Sheldon; Robert Gradwell, Jordon Mutch.

Subs: Artur Krysiak, Stefan Milojevic, Asa Hall, David Howland, Jake Jervis.

Kick-off is 7pm and admission is £5 for adults, £3 for oaps/juvs, free to season ticket holders.

Upcoming week

Sun, 25th Nov 2007
Chelsea have a hard week coming.

Monday 6th Nov 2007
RESERVES MATCH
Chelsea v Birmingham City at Brentford, kick off at 7.00pm.

Wednesday 28th Nov 2007
ROSENBORG V CHELSEA - UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Chelsea travel to Norway to face Rosenborg at the Lerkendal in the Champions League.

Friday 30th Nov 2007
CHELSEA PITCH OWNERS ANNUAL LUNCH
In its 13th year the Annual Lunch will be the biggest and the best so far, with VIP guests, supporters and past players in attendance.

Match Report: Derby County 0 - Chelsea 2

Sat, 24th Nov 2007

The last time Chelsea played at Pride Park, there was a minor earth tremor during the game. There was nothing quite so dramatic this time although a sending-off to Michael Essien in stoppage time put a dampener on an otherwise clinical away win.

Goals from Salomon Kalou in the first-half and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the second ensured that the bottom club were overcome as we once again made light of a two-week break during which most of our players were away.
The line-up reflected the rigours of international duty with the fresh Sidwell and Mikel chosen in midfield while Essien and Makelele, who both played two internationals, were either on the bench in the former case or not involved at all in the latter.
Shevchenko came in for the injured Drogba, flanked by Kalou and Wright-Phillips. Returning at left-back was Ashley Cole for his first Chelsea action in six weeks.
The Derby fans amused themselves from the off by booing our England players every time they were on the ball, even those not on the wet Wembley pitch last Wednesday.

On 16 minutes it all clicked for Chelsea. Mikel, Lampard and Sidwell passes cut through the Rams' defence like a knife through butter and Kalou was calmness personified as he took a touch and then slotted home low. It was the Ivorian's third goal this week.

Seventy-two minutes in came the game's most controversial moment and Chelsea's second goal. Shevchenko, having just been disposed himself, won the ball back with a robust challenge on Barnes.
The ball was worked up to Lampard who danced around several tackles before smashing a shot against the post. Wright-Phillips collected and fired the rebound in.

Two minutes into added time came the red card, a straight one to Essien for what was an open-handed push-off into the face of Miller. He will miss the West Ham, Sunderland and Arsenal games.
A fourth consecutive away league win moves Chelsea up to fourth in the table.

Chelsea Cudicini; Belletti, Ben-Haim, Terry (c), A Cole; Sidwell (Essien 73), Mikel, Lampard (Pizarro 89); Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko, Kalou.

Scorers Kalou 16, Wright-Phillips 72.

Booked A Cole 75.

Sent-off Essien 90+2.

Derby Bywater; Griffin, Moore, Davis, McEveley; Fagan (Earnshaw 84), Oakley (c) (Feilhaber 83), Leacock, Jones, Barnes (Howard 74); Miller.

Kalou's personal Goal

Sat, 24th Nov 2007

Salomon Kalou has just one aim for this weekend as he prepares to take on Derby - to score in a Chelsea win.

Kalou returned from international duty with the Ivory Coast this week having booked his county's place in next summer's Olympics, and then helping his nation to a 6-1 win in Qatar, but insists that his focus now is Pride Park.

"It's an important game, we know how important it is for Derby to win," said the popular forward. "We drew our last game at home and need the three points. It will be an interesting game - we have everything, the players and the team to win this kind of game."

It is likely we will have to do so without Kalou's countryman and strike partner Didier Drogba, who is struggling with a knee injury. This means he could be in line for a start as we hope to make it four consecutive league defeats for the Rams.

The omens for our opponents are not good, with Chelsea having scored more goals against Derby than any other in the Premier League. But despite this, and what the league table suggests, Kalou knows Derby will be no pushovers.

'I know that they are struggling to score, and to win games,' he acknowledged. 'But against Chelsea every team gives 200 percent so it will be a hard game.'
With a later kick-off time of 5.15pm, it may be that our players and fans already know the outcome of Saturday's other fixtures. For Kalou, this is a mixed blessing.
'Sometimes it's better when you don't know, because when you do it brings pressure,' he sighed. 'If you don't know you can focus on your game. It doesn't matter what other teams do, we have no choice but to win and take three points.'

lenty has happened in the footballing world over the 13 days since Everton's last-gasp equaliser at Stamford Bridge, but Kalou has not forgotten the frustration of Tim Cahill's overhead kick.
'It was disappointing in the last minute to concede a goal, but now we have the chance to make it right by winning tomorrow,' he explained. 'We have to forget what happened, a win puts us back in contention.
'We are all back from international duty, some players are happy and others disappointed but now we come back together and try to win.'
He is hoping to lead the line as we continue our unbeaten run that extends back to September, and insists a third goal in as many games would round his week off nicely.

'That would be a nice weekend for me, and it would complete my weekend to score in a Chelsea win,' he smiled.
Bookmakers Paddy Power list Kalou at 11/2 to score the first goal at Derby.

No England hangover as Terry welcomed back

Fri, 23rd Nov 2007

Avram Grant has backed his England players to put their international knockout blow behind them before facing bottom club Derby on Saturday.
With four of those who played against Croatia and another who was on the bench in the Chelsea squad heading north, any boost to morale is welcome and it has come with the news that John Terry is likely to take to the Pride Park pitch.
'We will see if John is ready to play from training today, but I think he can play tomorrow,' Grant announced before the final coaching session ahead of the game.
'When you are professional players, sometimes you have good times but you also know that you have disappointing times,' the Chelsea first team coach/manager explained.

'I want players with character who know how to behave in the very good times but also in the disappointing times. You have seen before that our players are doing that well.
'For any country that thinks their players are the best, what happened on Wednesday is some sort of tragedy. The players didn't like the result of course but they know they have a game on Saturday and life goes on.'
More concerning to Grant than the mental fortitude of his England players will be the possible absence of Didier Drogba at Derby.
The Ivorian has returned with a knee problem after international friendly action on Wednesday.

'Petr Cech, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho are still injured, maybe also Didier Drogba,' Grant revealed. Friday's training will make up the manager's mind over the striker's availability.
Though not ready for a return tomorrow, there was positive news on calf-strain victim Cech who Grant said is progressing well.
On Ricardo Carvalho, who injured his back in Chelsea's last match, he added: 'The situation is not good with him. At the least he will miss four weeks of games.'
Chelsea are odds-on favourites to record a fourth consecutive league away win with online betting partner Paddy Power quoting 2/7 on a Blues victory.

However, even though Derby face us on the back of a 5-1 thumping by West Ham and have not tasted success for seven games, Grant is guarding against complacency.
'I saw the last game against West Ham on video and until the first goal, Derby were better and played good football. I have seen other games like I do usually and I know it will not be an easy game.
'Every manager when he loses a game will be wanting his players to do better and I don't think that there are two games the same. The game against West Ham for them was poor but they will want to learn from this and do better. We are taking that into our consideration.'

Back Home

Thu, 22nd Nov 2007

On a grey day at Cobham, the majority of our international players returned from duty in differing moods, but were soon back to concentrating on Chelsea matters following their national exertions.

With training scheduled for the afternoon, players arrived gradually throughout the day, with injury victims Paulo Ferreira and Petr Cech in early to continue their rehabilitation work. They are two who have their tickets booked for Euro 2008.

Tal Ben-Haim, sporting a slight black eye after Israel's brave victory over Russia on Saturday, was greeted warmly by his England club colleagues, but not held aloft on shoulders as he may have expected prior to last night's match at Wembley.

Training itself combined a cool down exercise for those who did play yesterday, with a full session for those who did not.

Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and John Terry all remained out for the full session, which was based around fitness and short passing exercises.

Not everybody did make a return today, with Andriy Shevchenko, Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Claudio Pizarro and Alex all due to return later after making longer trips to represent their countries.

Four England Blues predicted to start

Wed, 21st Nov 2007

If speculation in the media is to be believed, there will be a heavy Chelsea presence in tonight's England game, including Frank Lampard who will be facing Croatia for a third time.

England last beat Croatia in 2004 when Wayne Rooney made his international debut in a 4-2 victory and it was Lampard who sealed the win 11 minutes from time when he drilled home a shot from the edge of the box (pictured).

In the most recent meeting between the two countries, back in October 2006, Shaun Wright-Phillips, who may start tonight's game ahead of David Beckham, was still a couple of months away from making his international debut.

It was on a cold, damp morning yesterday that a large media presence watched John Terry lead the England squad off the bus and onto Arsenal's training ground in St Albans.

The skipper was forced to miss out on the last two qualifying games after injuring his knee while preparing for England duty.

Lampard, Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge, Ashley Cole and Wright-Phillips all joked with their club captain as they warmed up in the bitter weather.

Unfortunately, Terry will not be able to play in tonight's crucial qualifier but joined his countrymen in St Albans to help boost morale. The Chelsea centre-back will also be at Wembley to show his support.

'It's important to have John Terry there for all the squad. It's been a long journey, it's been a hard journey,' said Steve McClaren, England coach.
'It's always important that you have all of your players there, so we'll have John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney together with us tomorrow, because we started together so we will finish together,' he added.
Back at the beginning of their qualifying campaign when England travelled to Zagreb to play Croatia, McClaren played a 3-5-2 formation.
They lost 2-0 with their fate sealed after a Gary Neville back pass to Paul Robinson hit a divot on the pitch and flicked over the keeper's foot. Hearts flew into the mouths of Englishmen all over country as they watched Robinson scramble back towards his line, trying to prevent the bizarre own goal occurring.

But occur it did and England lost their first game in Group E.
Back then England were missing Joe Cole, due to the injury stricken season he was having, and didn't start with the pace of Wright-Phillips on the right. Instead the winger replaced Jamie Carragher in the 73rd minute.
This time McClaren will, according to majority of the press speculation, opt for 4-5-1.

He certainly has the manpower to pull that off, with a midfield that may include Lampard, Gareth Barry and Steven Gerrard; Joe Cole and Wright-Phillips as wingers with either Peter Crouch or Jermain Defoe in the centre.
'Shaun Wright-Phillips's last three games at Wembley have been very good,' said the England boss.
'He's scored a couple of goals and he's created. We did talk about pace on both fronts and the pleasing thing for me is Shaun's showing that and so is Joe Cole on the other side as well,' he added.
McClaren will face a tough decision when choosing his left-back. With both Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge available, he must feel the same way Avram Grant does, but it's a good dilemma to have.

If Cole does start instead of Bridge then this will also be his third game against Croatia.
Terry will miss the chance to get one back on Arsenal's new danger man, Eduardo da Silva, who scored the opening goal in their previous meeting last October, and is expected to start up front tonight.
Our skipper will be relying on his fellow countrymen to complete the job, something that stand-in captain Gerrard is all too aware of.

'I've spoken to John and he's desperate to be in Austria and Switzerland next summer just like everyone else. So we need a big performance on Wednesday for all the players that have contributed over the last two years,' said the Liverpool captain.

JT working with England

Tue, 20th Nov 2007
John Terry swapped training at Cobham for London Colney on Tuesday morning, joining Chelsea's other England internationals under the watchful eye of Steve McClaren.
The England captain was struck down with a knee problem while training with the national side before their fixtures in October and subsequently missed out on the last round of qualifiers for Euro 2008.
Today he rejoined Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wayne Bridge and Ashley Cole at Arsenal's training ground in St Albans in preparation for the crucial match against Croatia tomorrow night.
Terry was in a buoyant mood during training but while stand-in captain in his absence, Steven Gerrard, said that his England colleague's presence had given a lift to training, he confirmed after the session that the match comes too early for Terry.
"I've spoken to John and he is not ready for Wednesday." the Liverpool player said.
"He is obviously disappointed not to be in the game, but he will still be there and will be a big help to all the players in the dressing room."

Chelsea promote London in Delhi

Mon, 19th Nov 2007

Chelsea Football Club played a full role on the first day of the Mayor of London's visit to India today.

Chelsea FC was one of Ken Livingstone's London Ambassadors for the trip to promote business, tourism, culture and sport between the capital and India.

Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon spoke at a major sports conference in Delhi which dealt with the legacy and business opportunities surrounding big sporting events, primarily Delhi's hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and London 2012.

Graeme Le Saux, who was part of the delegation in his role as a Chelsea Ambassador represented the club at the unveiling of a replica "Big Ben" in the centre of Delhi to mark the signing of a tourism agreement between the two cities.

Both Kenyon and Le Saux were in high demand from the Indian media who showed a great knowledge of the Premier League and were keen to check up on the latest transfer rumours as well as Chelsea's interest in Indian football.

Later in the evening Chelsea were amongst the Ambassador party representing London at the Partners in Globalisation reception.

Four Blues play Friday Friendlies

Fri, 16th Nov 2007

The weekend of international action began on Friday night with Chelsea players employed in an England win and a draw for France.
Both Frank Lampard and Wayne Bridge played the full 90 minutes of England's 1-0 away win in Austria, Lampard taking the captain's armband after Steven Gerrard was substituted at half-time.
Our midfielder was prominent throughout the match although it was Joe Cole, another given a rest for the second half, who came the closer to finding the net.

Only a last-ditch block by Austria keeper Alex Manninger prevented a goal after Cole had burst through the defence two minutes before the break with Peter Crouch's follow-up also blocked.
It was from the corner that resulted from the attack that Crouch headed the winning goal.
Manninger was only in goal because Jürgen Macho, the keeper who spent a year as a Chelsea player between 2003 and 2004 without ever making his debut, was carried off after a collision with Crouch. England were struck by their own first-half injury when Michael Owen suffered a thigh strain.
Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips remained on the bench throughout. Claude Makelele played the first-half as France limbered up for their final Euro 2008 qualifier next week with a friendly against Morocco.
The result in the Stade de France was 2-2 but as reported a couple of days ago, Florent Malouda was kept from the game by a knee injury, although he is hopeful of being fit to face Ukraine on Wednesday.
England Under 21s were also in action on Friday night, winning 2-0 against Bulgaria in a European Championship qualifier, although Chelsea's on-loan defender Michael Mancienne was prevented from taking his place in the side by a hamstring injury.

Two of Chelsea's young players competed for England Under 19s on Wednesday night away in Germany. A run of four consecutive wins at that level came to an end as the young England side lost 1-0.
It was Jack Cork, currently on loan at Scunthorpe, who came closest to preventing defeat in the friendly when his second-half shot was tipped onto the bar. Lee Sawyer also played.

No worries for Cech

Petr Cech has announced his relief to already have qualified for Euro 2008, while still hoping England can qualify for the tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

The Czech Republic confirmed their attendance at the tournament next summer with last month's 3-0 win in Germany, meaning the goalkeeper, who misses out due to injury this time around, can relax safe in the knowledge he will be on the plane in June.

'This is the positive when I look at the schedule. We have two weeks not for the club, of course I am disappointed I can't play for the national team, but having won qualification it's good for Czech football,' he said.

Cech misses his country's two final qualifiers against Slovakia and Cyprus, but will keep himself busy by following England's exploits as they try and achieve an unlikely qualification against Croatia on Wednesday.

Having played there twice already, and been present at the recent NFL game held there, it seems Cech cannot get enough of Wembley.
'I'm invited to go to the stadium, so I will go definitely to see the game,' he said.

'I hope there will still be a chance for England. England will play for their life and there will be more emotion. Even if Russia wins in Israel, there is still a chance, so England have to win.'

Should Drogba leave Chelsea?

Like Lampard, Drogba is at the peak of his market price. He could command 20m today but would he command the same next summer, when he’s 30 at an age where even Henry went for 16m?
It can be argued that both Lampard and Drogba are critical players for Chelsea and if Chelsea had to sell two players, they would be Makelele or Ballack and Shevchenko. And yet Makelele is going to be a backup player at best next season, and both Ballack and Shevchenko are trophy players like Rooney or Torres - the only difference being that Chelsea caught them on the wrong side of 30.
Ballack and Shevchenko will both improve next season - they have no where else to go but up - but their sale is not in question.
Drogba though, will both command a significant fee AND have plenty of suitors.
Chelsea would be foolish to sell Drogba for anything less than 20m, but what if a good 20m+ offer came in right now? Considering that Drogba will fetch less and he still needs to be paid next summer, why not cash in right now and bring in a striker for the future?
I’m sure Villa and Shevchenko could rule the Premiership for Chelsea together, just as Essien could handle the Chelsea midfield on his own if Lampard left.
Chelsea could, today, sell Lampard and Drogba and have enough money to bring in Alves and Villa and apart from revamping their squad they would also be replacing two clinical goal-scorers with equally clinical (and crucially, much younger) talents.
So…should Chelsea sell Drogba?