Soccer: Blues take swagger to Anfield

Chelsea’s Dutch winger, Arjen Robben, says he will be fit to face Liverpool. Picture / Reuters

The new Premiership champions began life at the top of English football yesterday, but while their status has changed, the principles that have served Jose Mourinho so well remain the same.

After the euphoria of Bolton it was training as usual as preparations began for tomorrow's Champions League semifinal second leg against Liverpool.

Last week's goal-less draw at Stamford Bridge may have added an element of uncertainty into Chelsea minds, but it was swept away with the emotion of victory on Sunday and the club's first title in 50 years.

"Now we're going to Anfield as champions," said Chelsea's match-winner Frank Lampard. "If that doesn't fill you with confidence, nothing will."

Mourinho will have to deal with serious injury problems - not least the doubts over his two left-wingers, Damien Duff and Arjen Robben - but his decision to play a full-strength team to seal the title now looks like a confidence-generating masterstroke.

"I can't see why we can't go on from this to win the Champions League," Joe Cole said. "Why not? We'll be going to Liverpool and we'll be flying now."

While Chelsea seized the moment at the Reebok Stadium with two goals from Lampard, Liverpool stumbled to a fifth home draw, against Middlesbrough.

Mourinho, who prevented his players from over-indulging in their celebrations, to the extent that champagne was restricted to one glass each, kept his side at a hotel in Preston yesterday to prepare for tomorrow's match.

Central defender and captain John Terry said: "Believe me, when we get there [to Anfield] and see our fans and their fans, any little bit of tiredness you feel will go out of the window. It's such a big night, such a big occasion.

"Last year we got knocked out at this stage of the competition. It's one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced and I don't want to go through that again.

"I think we've shown by beating Barcelona and Bayern Munich that we can mix it with the best and are up there with them. World-wide we're very well respected and we've shown that for the last two years. It's now down to us to go the stage further."

The issue of Robben's fitness will be crucial to Mourinho, who is understood to have privately expressed his dismay at the Dutchman's refusal to play against Liverpool last week because of an ankle injury.

However, Robben said that he would be prepared to risk his season tomorrow to make sure Chelsea reach the final in Istanbul on May 26.

"For my body, it's best to rest. But you know that you have to play now. This is such an important game. You can wait until you are 100 per cent, but you might be playing for nothing. I will try of course. I know it's a risk, but we have to see if we are ready," Robben said.

Defender William Gallas also admitted that he has been taking anti-inflammatories to treat pain in his back, but said that he should be fit to face Liverpool.

Unusually, Mourinho left the Reebok Stadium without talking to the press, but in a television interview he said that he had spoken to his family on the telephone after the match and could not resist criticising the fixture schedulers who gave him a later kick-off than Liverpool.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said that the club was determined to keep Mourinho beyond the terms of his three-year contract after the manager said that he would like to commit his future to the club.

Kenyon added that it would not recruit more than three players in the off-season, and repeated his insistence that Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand would not be a target.

Liverpool star Steven Gerrard promised that tomorrow's game would be "the biggest of my life".

"It's going to be massive and everyone has done nothing but talk about it since last week.

"The atmosphere is going to be special. There is no doubt that it is the biggest game of my life and I'm sure it's the same for every other player here at Liverpool Football Club."

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