Chelsea FC

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Wilkins plays down injury concerns

28 Jul 2010 - 13:01:50

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Assistant manager Ray Wilkins believes every fit member of Chelsea's first-team squad will be ready to play in the first game of the new Premier League season.

The reigning champions begin their title defence at home to West Bromwich Albion on August 14 and manager Carlo Ancelotti will be able to call on a full-strength squad.

Unlike title rivals Manchester United, who have already confirmed that players who competed in the World Cup will miss the opening weeks of the season, Wilkins claims every fit member of the squad will be available for selection.

"Things are going great, the lads have come back in reasonably good condition and that's the modern day professional, they work extremely hard to keep themselves in good shape," he told the official website.

"It's far easier to retain fitness than it is to regain it, so the lads have taken that on board and they look very good indeed.

"It is good to have the whole group back together. It has been rather patchy over the first couple of weeks but the first boys that came in worked so hard and the younger boys did well, and now it's good to have the senior boys back.

"Them having the World Cup makes it a tad harder on the physical aspect. We can't do some of the work with the lads that are just back because it is too physical for them, but our aim is to get everybody ready for that first league game of the season.

"If we can do that then we'll have achieved our goal."