D
Dodomeki
Guest
Didier Drogba set to lead Chelsea line against Fulham despite suffering bout of malaria
Didier Drogba will play for Chelsea on Wednesday despite still suffering from malaria. The 32-year-old striker was only put on a 48-hour course of medication to combat the disease on Monday evening and it will not be eradicated by the time his team face Fulham.
Fever pitch: Didier Drogba will line up for Chelsea against Fulham despite suffering from malaria Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Jason Burt 7:00AM GMT 10 Nov 2010 Jason's Twitter
However, Drogba has been cleared to play by specialists although neither they, nor Chelsea’s medical team, are sure when or where he contracted the disease. Indeed it may have lain dormant in his system for several months, even dating back to last year.
Drogba has been unwell for the past month, complaining of headaches and a fever, which has affected his performances for Chelsea.
Despite a series of tests, including screening for a number of tropical diseases, it was not until Monday that it was diagnosed that he is suffering from a strain of malaria. According to doctors, this is because there was not enough parasitic activity in his blood that could be detected.
Now that the strain has been identified the medical staff are confident it will be cleared – and this strain will not return – although Drogba will be retested on a regular basis to make sure he is not in danger of what is, potentially, an extremely serious illness. It has previously affected other African footballers including Kolo Toure – who had to be admitted to hospital – and Yakubu.
It may well be that Drogba contracted the disease on one of his regular trips to the Ivory Coast – he returned there only last month to watch his country play – although it is understood he was already feeling ill before he flew back to his homeland.
On Tuesday Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said: “He has this virus (sic) and, obviously, he lost power and training. He lost his condition. He’s had treatment and now he’s OK. He’ll come back immediately in the best condition. "He suffered, obviously, because he wasn’t 100 per cent but now, after treatment, he’ll be better. He had malaria. He had the tests in the last day, and they showed this kind of virus. Now he’s good.”
However, it is understood that Drogba, who was unable to start Sunday’s league match away to Liverpool, appearing as a substitute, is not clear yet. “Didier was, for this month, having difficulty to train,” Ancelotti added. “He was unselfish to play. Now he has the possibility to improve his condition without a problem. He will play tomorrow.”
With Nicolas Anelka struggling because of a sore back and Alex suffering from a swollen knee, Ancelotti’s options – despite the return of Michael Essien – remain limited as Chelsea prepare to face Fulham, with their lead at the top of the table reduced to two points.
However Ancelotti maintained he was happy with the squad he has – “we are not thinking about buying new players in January” – and rejected suggestions that Chelsea should have made more of an effort to sign Fernando Torres, who scored twice on Sunday, in the summer. Interestingly he also mentioned, unprompted, Carlos Tévez. “It wasn’t just Torres who created problems for us. Tévez is the same,” he said referring to Chelsea’s defeat away to Manchester City.
“Fantastic strikers. Sometimes it can happen to concede goals to these strikers. When you have Drogba and Anelka, it’s difficult to think about Torres. The day that Drogba will not be able to play and maintain this level of condition, we can think about buying another striker like Torres. But when Drogba is not able, Torres will be old.” Maybe, but maybe not – given the Spaniard is six years younger than Drogba, give or take a week.
Ancelotti – who said the best result for Chelsea from Wednesday’s Manchester derby would be “0-0” – claimed that Lampard would be finally available to play on Sunday, against Sunderland. Fabio Capello is planning to watch that match, having selected his England France the night before, and Ancelotti said he would not “have a problem” if Lampard is included although it’s understood to be unlikely.
Chelsea have reiterated their stance that they have no intention of moving stadium from Stamford Bridge to Earls Court with developers Capital and Counties confirming they intended to press ahead with their current plans to build 8,000 new homes.
