Chelsea defender Alex expects to have knee surgery next week and insists he is fine to face Birmingham.
Blues stopper prepared to delay knee surgery to face Birmingham
Chelsea defender Alex expects to undergo a knee operation next week and insists he is fine to face Birmingham City on Saturday.
Alex has missed Chelsea's last two Premier League games and was expected to be ruled out for at least six weeks due to his knee injury.
However, he was on the bench for Brazil's friendly with Argentina in midweek and is being pressed into action for the Blues at Birmingham on Saturday due to John Terry's absence.
The former PSV Eindhoven centre-half admits there is no avoiding surgery, but is confident he will not be troubled by the knee problem at St Andrews.
Ready to help
"I need surgery, and maybe after the game I will go to Brazil and do the operation on Thursday," he told the club's
official website.
"Arthroscopic surgery is easy to do, and I can play on Saturday to help the team.
"We have too many players injured, so I said to the coach I can play. I am not 100 per cent fit, but I can play.
"I have to say "thank you" to the medical staff, they always help me so much and call me, give me treatment or help me in the gym and swimming pool, and it helps so much.
"On the training pitch it is good, no problem, I have done some light sessions, I trained on Friday and it is okay, I am ready to help my team and to help them win.
"It is an important game for us, a difficult game, and we need to win.
"It is important we stay compact in defence and work well, important we don't concede goals and get forward to score goals."
