Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea striker Saloman Kalou doubtful for clash with Manchester City
In-form striker Salomon Kalou is doubtful for Chelsea's visit to Manchester City on Saturday when the champions face what is likely to be their toughest game in the Premier League so far this season.[LNB]Kalou has scored four times in Chelsea's blistering start to the new campaign which has produced five successive league wins, but he suffered a thigh injury during the first half of Chelsea's shock 4-3 home defeat to Newcastle United in the League Cup on Wednesday and was replaced at half-time.[LNB]Manager Carlo Ancelotti, who made nine changes from the side that beat Blackpool 4-0 last Sunday, said after the Newcastle setback that midfielder Yossi Benayoun could also miss the trip to Eastlands because of a calf injury.[LNB] Flat out: Kalou was carried off on a stretcher during Chelsea's surprise defeat to Newcastle in the Carling Cup[LNB]'They will both have scans on Thursday but they are both doubtful and I am not sure they are going to be fit enough in time,' Ancelotti said after watching his side lose a competitive match for the first time since April.[LNB]Saturday's match at Eastlands pits new money against even newer money with City desperate to emulate the success Chelsea have enjoyed since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich rescued them from penury seven years ago.[LNB]Before Abramovich's arrival, Chelsea had won the League just once in 1955, but have now won it again another three times and completed the FA Cup and League double last season.[LNB]Enlarge On song: Kalou has made a blistering start to the season[LNB]City are desperate for that kind of success - and more.[LNB]Their Arab owner Sheikh Mansour has spent 170 million pounds ($266.4 million) this calendar alone trying to find the formula for glory, but City have so far failed to gel as a side.[LNB]'It will be a big match. Manchester City have a very strong squad and will give us a real test,' said Ancelotti . 'This is the kind of game that makes the Premier League so strong.'[LNB]City's aim is to not only win the title for the first time since 1968 but also establish themselves as one of the biggest clubs in Europe.[LNB]However, they have made a stuttering start and coach Roberto Mancini is having to deal with some internal problems he could do without.[LNB]Earlier this week he expressed his irritation at his players publicly criticising his managerial methods, saying they should stop expressing their views in the media.[LNB]'I want a mentality like at Manchester United and Chelsea where the players understand why the manager has to make changes, but the problem for us is that we cannot just change in five months,' Mancini said. [LNB]'I played football myself and I understand why the players who are not chosen are unhappy but at the same time it's really important that we start to change their mentality because if we want to win something, to be a top team, its going to be impossible, if, every few days if a player does an interview moaning 'I am not playing.'[LNB] Size isn't everything! Chelsea's Essien reveals he was rejected by Man UnitedEXCLUSIVE: Mega-bucks City taking the Mickey as Disney snub ChelseaChelsea 3 Newcastle 4: Ameobi strikes to dump out 10-man BluesCHELSEA FC
