Malouda fit for Liverpool trip

UPDATE:  Here's Ancelotti's quote, from Soccernet.com:

"I can give you nine men: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Zhirkov, Anelka, Drogba. Malouda or Kalou, Essien or Ramires," Ancelotti said.

So FloMa is 50/50 with Kalou and Ramires is challenging Essien's spot, not Zhirkov's.

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Premier League - Malouda fit for Liverpool trip - Yahoo! Eurosport

Chelsea's top scorer Florent Malouda will be fit to face Liverpool this weekend despite manager Carlo Ancelotti claiming on Thursday that he was injured.

The Italian backtracked from his earlier analysis on Friday, in which he said the ankle injury sustained in the win over Blackburn last week would keep the Frenchman sidelined.

"Malouda is available to play, he has recovered very well" said the Chelsea boss, adding that the striker would be in the starting line-up.

Ancelotti also changed his mind over the fitness of Frank Lampard, who had been expected to be fit in time for the trip to Anfield.

"He is not available for this game, we have to take time again," said Ancelotti. "Next week finally he will be ready.

File this under "make up your damn mind, but thanks for the heads up".

The Week Ahead - Week 4 Edition

I was preparing myself to fill the space generally reserved for ranting about whatever is on my mind with news about the various injuries sustained by key players - Defoe, Dawson, Walcott, et al - over the international break but since Jeremy already covered that here and here there isn't much sense in being repetitive.  Just click and see his fine work.

Honestly, with 4 fantasy (gridiron) football teams getting ready to kickoff the new NFL season this evening and two weeks where there was very little news other than injuries, I have to say that I'm a little bit at a loss as to what to write about leading up to my weekly analysis.  I will go on record with a few NFL predictions that probably none of you outside of the US care about but I'd like to get them on record somewhere so I can take credit for them later in the year.  Plus, we're all about fantasy sports here so there is at least some relevance.

• Kevin Kolb may or may not get the Eagles to the playoffs but he's going to be an excellent fantasy quarterback.  Under Andy Reid (the exceedingly plump coach, not the slightly overweight Sunderland midfielder) the Eagles have always thrown for a lot of yards no matter who the QB has been.
• The New England Patriots aren't going to be very good this year.  Randy Moss bitching about his contract, best O-lineman holding out, best D-lineman out for the year, best CB out for the year, no quality running backs.  I am all for giving Brady/Belicheck their due but at some point there has to be some talent and I just don't see it.  No playoffs in New England.
• Arian Foster will be a top 10 fantasy running back.  Great offense and he fits their style to a T.
• Malcolm Floyd will be the Arian Foster of wide receivers.
• San Francisco will look great until the playoffs when they have to start playing much better teams.  SF players will be great for fantasy but will not deliver in the end when it matters - but maybe next year.
• Dallas will be a playoff team but not the best team in the NFC.
• Kansas City and Oakland will battle down to the wire for a playoff spot and both will be much better than expected on offense - I think Oakland will win out because they were already pretty solid on D.
• Green Bay and Baltimore (who should get healthier on defense as the year goes on) will play in the Super Bowl.
• Green Bay will win it all.

OK, I feel better having that out of the way.  For those of you who don't care, I apologize, back to the Premier League and EPL fantasy now.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba to miss start of season

UPDATE:  On the other hand...

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti expects Didier Drogba and Petr Cech to be fit for the start of the new season.

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Chelsea striker Didier Drogba to miss start of season - Telegraph

This is a week old now, but I had missed it. So maybe you did too.

Community Shield Notes

Interesting to see Chelsea line up with Ivanovic starting at right back with no apparent injury to Bosignwa. Combine that with Bayern Munich's pursuit of Bosingwa over the summer (that was never really shouted down by anyone at Chelsea) and we might have a bargain defender in the making.

Zhirkov doesn't even make the bench as he recovers from a knee injury. It is unclear whether he will recover in time for the start of the season not and even if he does, whether he will start ahead of Malouda.

Another curious selection on the other side of the ball is Nani getting the start over Valencia with no injury reported. (and Nani just scored as if to underscore his spot in the line-up - and he made the goal himself - definitely food for thought) It also appears that Darren Fletcher will be taking Paul Scholes' old spot with Park getting the nod on the left.

At the back, O'Shea is subbing for GNev/Rafael as they are both injured and Evans is subbing in for Vidic. Foster received the call in net over Kuszczak which (I assume) makes him the presumptive favorite for Week 1 but of course we'll disect every statement from Fergie this week to ensure you have the latest and greatest news.

Scout appointment pleases McLeish

Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish says the arrival of new chief scout Paul Montgomery will improve their chances of recruiting top players.

Montgomery originally spotted Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda when he was with West Ham.

HA! How well did that work out for West Ham? At best you can argue that Drogba's arrival led to Carlton Cole being expendable and therefore available to West Ham. But even that's a stretch, at best. And Cole... he's a fantasy nightmare. Cheap enough to be tempting when West Ham have a good matchup, but as likely to get a yellow card (7) as an assist (6).

Malouda Completes Chelsea Move

Chelsea have confirmed their long-anticipated capture of France winger Florent Malouda.

The 27-year-old successfully completed a medical on Monday and has signed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge after the Blues agreed an undisclosed fee with French champions Lyon.

+10.

Reds Eye Malouda Raid

Rafa Benitez will reportedly start his revamp of the Liverpool squad on the wings.

Benitez will have significant sums to spend this summer from both his planned clearout of the Anfield squad (which could see Mark Gonzalez, Bolo Zenden, Craig Bellamy and Harry Kewell head for the exit door), and from backing from the club's new American owners.

Wednesday's Sun claims that the Spanish boss is lining up a raid on his old club Valencia to sign left-winger David Silva.

Silva has been one of the finds of the season for Quique Sanchez Flores' side after signing from Celta Vigo last summer.

The Valencia man could cost up to £12 million, but a slightly cheaper option could be Lyon wideman Florent Malouda.

Odd to see reports linking Rafa to a Frenchman. It's like a trip in the Way-Back Machine to the Houllier era when Liverpool brought in the likes of Cisse, Cheyrou, Le Tallec, and Sinama-Pongolle. David Silva would be the more likely Rafa signing, simply because he's Spanish.

But either player could achieve "+10" status, depending on which names leave Liverpool. If Zenden, Gonzalez, and Kewell go (and maybe even Riise) it would seem that a new left-winger would quickly find themselves at the front of the playing-time queue.