Chelsea Football Club News

• Nickname:Blues
• Founded:1905
• Manager:Roberto Di Matteo

• Ground:Stamford Bridge
• Capacity:42,440

Grant hits back in fixture row

02 Apr 2008 - 08:17:40

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Chelsea boss Avram Grant has upped the mind games with Sir Alex Ferguson after accusing his Manchester United counterpart of an April fool's day joke.

Ferguson criticised Chelsea's attempts to move a fixture with Everton later this month which was brought forward for television coverage.

The Blues' scheduled Saturday April 19 Premier League clash with Everton has been moved forward 48 hours to Thursday April 17 by Sky television.

However, speaking ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg clash with Fenerbahce, Grant questioned Ferguson's claim, saying: "I like Alex but, what day is it?

"I think he must be joking."

Meanwhile, Michael Essien is predicting a tricky quarter-final clash with Fenerbahce.

The Ghana midfielder faced the Turkish side twice while with former club Lyon and is wary of the first leg trip to the Sukru Saracoglu stadium.

"We won both games so I have a good record against them and I hope we can keep that up," he said.

"Their home ground is a special place and the atmosphere can be fantastic.

"Their fans are very noisy so we will just have to close our ears, focus on our own game and do all we can to keep a clean sheet."