Chelsea face nervous wait over Drogba injury

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti faces a nervous wait to discover how long Didier Drogba will be sidelined after the Ivory Coast striker was stretchered off with a calf injury in his side’s 3-0 win over Tottenham.

Ancelotti’s side maintained their 100 percent record under the Italian, who replaced interim manager Guus Hiddink in the close-season, and regained top position in the Premier League with a convincing display at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Tottenham could not conjure a reply to goals from Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack and Drogba and Chelsea have now set a club record sequence of 11 successive victories in league action, including fixtures from last season.

But Drogba was stretchered off before the final whistle, as was Tottenham defender Sebastien Bassong, who was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured cheekbone. The visitors also lost Ledley King to a hamstring injury.

Ancelotti was hopeful Drogba, who is banned for the next two Champions League fixtures, would not be forced to miss too much Premier League action as his side jousts with Manchester United at the top of the table once again.

He said: “We don’t know precisely what the problem is yet. It’s too early. We’ll have to wait some days to see. We hope it’s only cramp.

“We’ll have a better idea on Monday. We’ll have a precise diagnosis then. But it’s a calf, not his knee.”

Tottenham are still handily placed in sixth position but Bassong is likely to become a long-term absentee at a time when fellow centre-backs Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson are both out injured.

The recent signing from Newcastle was hurt in a tussle with Chelsea’s French forward Nicolas Anelka.

Manager Harry Redknapp said: “He got a bang on the head and his eye is all swollen up. It doesn’t look too clever. Woodgate is nowhere near playing again. He went to see a specialist again on Saturday and he just can’t train.

“We haven’t got to the bottom of the injury at all, what’s causing him discomfort. Dawson has a chance, he’s the one.”

King plays weekend games despite being unable to train for more than 20 minutes a week because of a chronic knee problem and this, Redknapp admitted, left him vulnerable to picking up other ailments.

He said: “It’s a difficult one, especially as I have no one else, so if he’s fit he’s in my team. Central defenders like that are difficult to come by and Ledley’s up there in the John Terry class when he’s fit.

“He’s just picked up a couple of injuries in the last few weeks and that’s concerned me.”

Redknapp was also convinced his side should have been given a penalty early in the second half when Chelsea were 1-0 up.

Referee Howard Webb ruled that Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho had not made contact when Robbie Keane went down in the penalty area.

But Redknapp argued that his player should have been sent off it the official had been convinced he had called it correctly.

He said: “Robbie was too honest. If he had gone over when contact was first made, it’s a penalty. But if the referee doesn’t feel it’s a penalty and it’s a dive and he should send him off. It’s got to be one or the other, not nothing.”

Before the game, Ancelotti had tuned in to see Manchester United beat Manchester City 4-3 to keep the pressure on his players.

But the Italian insisted he was not too concerned just yet with what was going on at Old Trafford.

He said: “I’m interested that Chelsea play well and win. Other things are not important for us. I like to watch United’s games, but we have to think about us and our way.”