Source: Daily_Mail
Didier Drogba may need surgery on groin injury at the end of the season, says Carlo Ancelotti
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed that striker Didier Drogba could require surgery at the end of the season to cure a long-standing groin problem.[LNB]Drogba, who watched Chelsea's 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa last week from the sanctuary of the substitutes' bench, has been carrying the injury for some time.[LNB] Waiting game: Didier Drogba may need an operation on his long-standing groin problem at the end of the season[LNB]But that has not stopped the 32-year-old from bagging 30 goals this season and he will spearhead Chelsea's attack in their top-of-the-table confrontation with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.[LNB]United will be without their leading scorer Wayne Rooney because of his ankle ligament injury, but Ancelotti revealed that his own goal machine has been playing through the pain barrier in recent months and it could eventually lead to corrective surgery before the World Cup finals this summer.[LNB]'Drogba has been living with this problem for three or four months but it is not a big problem,' revealed Ancelotti.[LNB]Working together: Carlo Ancelotti will keep a close eye on the fitness of his star striker during the title run-in[LNB]'Sometimes he has problems after the game but during the week he doesn't have any difficulty.[LNB]'He will not need surgery now and if he needs to have an operation at the end of the season he will be ready in seven days because it will be a very little surgery - but I don't know if he will need to have that surgery.[LNB]'He was a little bit tired before the last game against Aston Villa so I didn't want to take the risk to put him on the pitch but now he is fit and he has to play.'[LNB]Chelsea are the top scorers in the Barclays Premier League with 82 goals, 52 of them scored at home, and have smashed 12 in their last two games.[LNB]But despite hitting seven twice in home league games this season, Ancelotti is reluctant to take on the mantle of being a coach who puts forward play first.[LNB]'I don't consider myself an attacking coach,' added the Italian. 'I am Italian and the fortune of Italian football is defensively. I like balance. I am a balanced coach.[LNB]'This is our aim, to attack and play football, but the first thing is to maintain balance because I don't like to concede a goal. The easy way to score is a counter-attack. In Italy the team that won Serie A was not the team that scored more goals, it was the team that conceded the least.'[LNB] Chelsea's Michael Ballack is banking on taking the title to wire regardless of Old Trafford resultSir Alex Ferguson praises 'job well done' by Carlo Ancelotti at ChelseaChelsea's John Mikel Obi is on a revenge mission at Old TraffordMan Utd v CHELSEA: Top scorer Didier Drogba to return to starting line-upCHELSEA FC
