Return Dates for Carvalho, Essien, Malouda...

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, wide man Malouda and young centre-forward Franco Di Santo are likely to be available for selection very soon whilst recent news on the exceptionally rapid recovery of midfielder Michael Essien has disappointingly been “pooh poohed” by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“Essien is in very good condition, but only for February, March. I think in this time he will play.”

So no miraculous January return for the Ghanaian then?  Time will tell.

Carvalho picked up a knee-injury in October and despite our characteristic miserly goals against column many Chelsea fans feel that we have been missing his influence although the very able Messer’s Alex and Ivanovic have been deputising for the Portuguese central defender. 

Recent reports suggested that Carvalho would be fit for Monday’s Barclays Premier League trip to Everton but that obviously didn’t happen and Scolari gives us a 50/50 prediction on the defender alighting the Stamford Bridge turf on Friday for the Boxing Day fixture at home to West Brom: 

“Ricardo is not in condition,”

”Maybe two days more, ten days maximum” 

So we could be looking at some minutes against West Brom or for the following fixture away to Fulham – at most the FA Cup game against Saarfend.  Would be nice to have him fit for the trip to Old Trafford against Man United. 

Flaurent Malouda has been suffering from a thigh-strain for the last few weeks but is closer to a return than our other injured players.

Many who feel that his influence doesn’t help us much on the pitch although we haven’t exactly shone without him either?  I feel he has improved on last season although there’s still some way to go before he reaches the level we hoped he would do. 

Franco Di Santo is still out with a hamstring injury but his return must be imminent (in fact, neither he and Malouda currently figure in the Physioroom´s http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php  list of injured Chelsea players).