London: Holders Chelsea should have striker Demba Ba and defender Ryan Bertrand available for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley. Senegal international Ba, who was ineligible for Thursday's Europa League quarter-final at Rubin Kazan, suffered an ankle problem in last weekend's 2-1 Premier League victory over Sunderland and had to go off at halftime.
England fullback Bertrand, who has been deputising in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole, missed the trip to Russia due to illness. Interim manager Rafael Benitez told a news conference that Ba and Bertrand took part in a light training session on Friday and he expected both players to be in his squad against City.
Cole and centre back Gary Cahill are again out with long-term injury problems. Second-placed City beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Premier League in February but Benitez said he learned some valuable lessons from that defeat at the Etihad Stadium. "We know what we did wrong when we played against them," said the Spaniard. "We will try to do these things well on Sunday.
"City are in a good position in the table and they did well against Manchester United the other day," added Benitez, referring to their 2-1 win over the Premier League leaders on Monday. "We know it will be difficult but it is a semi-final of a massive competition." A much-changed Chelsea side lost 3-2 against Rubin in Moscow and squeezed through 5-4 on aggregate to set up a Europa League semi-final
01:05 AM, Apr 13, 2013
London: Juan Mata scored two goals and set up another as Chelsea recovered to beat London rivals Tottenham 4-2 on Saturday, consolidating the European champions' dominant lead in the Premier League. Having taken an early lead through Gary Cahill, the unbeaten visitors " without the suspended John Terry " were rocked at the start of the second half when they conceded goals to William Gallas and Jermain Defoe. However, Mata...
07:27 PM, Oct 20, 2012
London: Rio Ferdinand's representative says England coach Roy Hodgson has shown the defender a lack of respect by repeatedly ignoring him for the European Championship. After Gary Cahill was ruled out of Euro 2012 with a broken jaw, Hodgson selected Liverpool's Martin Kelly, who made his England debut in last week's win at Norway and has just 10 Premier League appearances for his club last term, while the experienced Ferdinand...
02:35 PM, Jun 04, 2012
Chelsea recorded a resounding 6-1 win over Nordsjaelland but still became the first defending champions to bow out in the group stages. ... 
