Petr Cech, the Czech international goalkeeper, and Michael Carrick, the England midfielder, will miss the curtain-raiser to the English season when Chelsea play Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium tomorrow. Carrick injured an ankle in United's 7-1 friendly win over the League of Ireland XI in Dublin on Wednesday and the problem will also sideline him for the opening matches of the Premier League season. Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said yesterday that Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Anderson would also miss the game as he spelled out his team's sickness and injury concerns.
"Anderson is making quite good progress, Rio is still well behind, [Owen] Hargreaves is still in the States, the two Da Silvas [Fabio and Rafael] had food poisoning in the week and are doubtful for Sunday so we are not in a great position. Carrick will be out for a couple of weeks," Ferguson said. He also said Wayne Rooney and former England international frontman Michael Owen would play for part of the match.
"Rooney and Owen definitely need to play 45 minutes on Sunday - and as we have had to do with the Community Shield for the last few years, we'll use it as a mechanism to get players further down the line in terms of fitness." Cech, who saved two spot kicks when his side beat United on penalties in last year's Community Shield, has a calf injury but is expected to be fit by next Saturday when the league and FA Cup winners kick off the season at home to promoted West Bromwich Albion.
Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, named his team yesterday, with Hilario starting in goal in place of Cech, who has an injured calf muscle. Didier Drogba, last season's top scorer, will start on the bench."After a fantastic season it was very difficult to change this squad. We could repeat it this year with these players," Ancelotti told the club website. * Reuters
Chelsea XI: Hilario; Paulo Ferreira, John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole; Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda