Hiddink hails Essien return

Chelsea midfielder ready to tackle Juventus

Last updated: 9th March 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Hiddink hails Essien return

Essien: Could start against Juve

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink believes the return to fitness of midfielder Michael Essien will be crucial as the Blues chase silverware on three fronts this season.

Essien spent six months on the sidelines with knee ligament damage but will be involved again when Chelsea travel to Juventus for the second leg of their last-16 UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday night.

The Ghana international made his long-awaited comeback when he stepped off the bench for the final 25 minutes of Saturday's 2-0 FA Cup victory over Coventry as Hiddink's men booked a semi-final meeting with either Arsenal or Hull City.

Chelsea are also in contention for the Premier League crown, despite Manchester United's advantage at the summit, and Hiddink has welcomed the return of such a key man as Essien.

Huge impact

"I think it's very important from now until the end of the season to have a big squad in terms of numbers and quality," said Hiddink.

"Essien has come back so we have more depth in quality in the squad. He can make his contribution like he did in the past. He was out for many, many months, so it's not easy for him to get the rhythm of the game from the first minute he plays.

"But he's very strong, a very positive guy and he can have a huge impact for the rest of the season.

"He will be in the 18, so he's ready to start. Let's see what will happen. We can either start with him or bring him on later, as we did at Coventry, but he's OK and in the squad for the match."

Hiddink will wait until the last moment to decide whether top scorer Nicolas Anelka has recovered sufficiently from his bruised toe or whether midfielder Deco suffers any reaction to his hamstring tear.

He said: "Anelka has started to train again - yesterday, a bit the day before - and we'll see what his reaction is. We have a few hours to make a decision.

"Deco started back a few days ago. He's a little more problematic. He's fit, but his injury was a muscle - a hamstring - not a rupture but you must be careful. We'll look at him after training to see whether he's in the 18."

Attack

And Hiddink has vowed Chelsea will not sit back and gift Juventus the initiative at Stadio Olimpico after Didier Drogba's first-leg goal gave the West London club the advantage.

"It's always nice to have a clean sheet," said Hiddink. "That's very important. But if you just wait in the second leg and hope not to concede, willing not to concede a goal and not have any initiative in the game, you will have a lot of problems.

"So, whenever we can, the team must attack. It's in their character. We've not come here just to defend. That would be asking for trouble.

"At this level, it's tight. Our game at Stamford Bridge was tight. Tomorrow it will be too.

"When you are in this period in Europe, I don't want to talk about luck but you have to force luck a little bit."