Stamford Bridge

Next Game

Chelsea v Man City

Friday, 24 May 2013, 01:30

Friendly Match

Stamford Bridge

Last Game

Chelsea 2 - 1 Everton

Sunday, 19 May 2013, 16:00

Barclays Prem

Cech playing through the pain

Petr Cech has admitted he experienced discomfort during Chelsea's win over Wigan but he believes he is now over the worst of it and does not want to sit out the clash with Sparta Prague.

Last Updated: 11/02/13 at 09:03 Post Comment

Petr Cech: Eager to play against former club Sparta Prague in the Europa League

Petr Cech: Eager to play against former club Sparta Prague in the Europa League

Cech was expected to face a spell out of action after breaking his little finger in the loss to Newcastle United last weekend, but was fit enough to line up between the posts against Wigan.

He admits his finger did hurt but has made it clear that he fully expects to start Thursday's Europa League game at former club Sparta Prague.

"That I would play (against Wigan) was decided definitely on Friday after the training session," he said on his own official website.

"I coped normally but felt quite a lot of pain in it. The doctors left the final decision to me. I had a special splinter and bandage for this match. They could not deaden the pain because I need to feel the finger while goalkeeping."

Cech added: "Naturally, it was painful as it always is if you have something broken. But I could play with it. The important thing is to endure the pain.

"There were quite a lot of shots but none of them hit me directly in the finger. When I survived this, then I will certainly be playing against Sparta on Thursday, unless something unexpected happens by then."

The 30-year-old admits it was not easy to go into the Wigan match knowing Tottenham had beaten Newcastle 2-1 earlier in the day to temporarily move third, and he was delighted Chelsea managed to respond with a 4-1 victory of their own.

He said: "Tottenham played before us and won, so we knew we could not afford a slip-up. We are glad to have won and, moreover, when (Manchester) City lost their match later on, it makes the gap between us and them just four points.

"We did not have the best of starts against Wigan but it was possibly caused by having a lot of players away on international duty and some of them returned at the last moment. We got better throughout the match and the first goal helped us a lot.

"After the half-time break, we added another but then we let them pull one back. Fortunately towards the end we scored two more and that was the main difference between this and our previous games - that we converted our opportunities."

Related News

Sky Bet

    • Retrieving latest Sky Bet odds

Most Commented

Readers' Comments

I

m curious as to what image Real Madrid are trying to re-establish as I always thought their pre-Jose image was one of a bunch of a classless bullies tapping up whoever they wanted while living it large on borrowed money they're never going to pay back.

john matrix
Perez Will Spend Big To Forget Jose...

A

t the start of the season, after the RVP transfer, I confidently claimed that Arsenal would finish above United. I now regret it immensely.

Fuzzy_Dunlop
Reflecting On The F365 Pre-Season Predictions

D

aniel Storey generally did very well, going against the City won it last year so they're bound to win it this time grain. As for John Nicholson, I wouldn't trust him to predict correctly what day of the week it will be tomorrow.

Griff
Reflecting On The F365 Pre-Season Predictions

Footer 365

Titus Bramble confirms exit from Sunderland via his personal Twitter account

Sunderland defender Titus Bramble has confirmed his exit from the club after three years at the Stadium of Light.

UEFA to impose 10-match European ban for players and officials found guilty of racism

UEFA has ratified a proposal to impose a 10-match European ban for players and officials found guilty of racism.

Hodgson's plea to supporters

Roy Hodgson has urged England fans not to sing "religious or political" songs during the friendly with the Republic of Ireland.

Mail Box

An Ode To Rafa And Loads More Mails...

We have one Chelsea fan who recognises the job done by Rafa Benitez while there's maths from Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester. And Shawcross to Arsenal? Nah...

Mails: Jol Out And Other Demands...

You might notice that we haven't included a single mail about teams in pubs, because most of them were terrible. Instead we have a disgruntled Fulham fan and Scouse maths...

© 2013 British Sky Broadcasting Ltd. All Rights Reserved