English Premier League

INJURY CRISIS FOR MOURINHO

Mourinho - injury crisis
Jose Mourinho starts his bid for a Premiership title hat-trick with the worst injury crisis since he arrived at Chelsea.

Petr Cech, Robert Huth and Joe Cole are all out and Michael Ballack is unlikely to overcome his hip injury in time to face Manchester City on Sunday.

Claude Makele and Geremi are also unlikely to shake off muscle strains before the Premiership opener, with the lack of numbers leaving Mourinho to decide whether to recall defender William Gallas.

Defender Gallas, who says he wants to leave, reported late for pre-season training and has not been involved in any of the warm-up games.

Manchester City look certain to be without Dietmar Hamann and Andy Cole for the trip to London.

Hamann has failed to recover from a foot problem picked up on City's recent tour of China, while Cole is yet to make an appearance in pre-season after struggling to recover from a knee problem.

Richard Dunne should be fit despite missing Republic of Ireland's midweek defeat to Holland with a hamstring strain, while Sylvain Distin will play if his proposed move to Middlesbrough has not gone through.

Teams:

Chelsea (from): Cudicini, Ferreira, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Diarra, Essien, Lampard, Mikel, Robben, Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko, Kalou, Drogba, Smith, Mancienne, Hilario.

Man City (from): Isaksson, Weaver, Sun Jihai, Onuoha, Richards, Mills, Dunne, Distin, Jordan, Thatcher, Sinclair, Reyna, Dabo, Barton, Vassell, Samaras, Corradi, Dickov, Sturridge.