Anelka feels for Drogba

Chelsea striker supports team-mate

Last updated: 21st November 2008

nicolas anelka chelsea v west brom

Anelka: Backing Drogba

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Nicolas Anelka has expressed his sympathy for Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba over his three-match ban.

Drogba was given the punishment by the Football Association earlier this week after admitting a charge of violent conduct.

The charge related to Drogba's behaviour in the recent Carling Cup clash with Burnley, when he threw a coin back into the crowd.

Drogba apologised later the same night and Anelka does not feel the incident should have been taken so seriously.

"In England and at Chelsea more precisely, what has made the headlines is the Drogba affair," the France striker wrote in his weekly column for website

www.lesdessousdusport.fr.

"Didier threw back a coin that supporters had chucked at him. It's not something serious. It's a gesture like any other.

"In Turkey, during derbies, I had batteries and other things thrown at my head - I never responded. But sometimes it's hard to keep your nerves."