Essien could be fit to face Spurs

Adjust font size:

LONDON, England -- Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien could be fit for Monday's FA Cup quarterfinal replay at Tottenham Hotspur, a game manager Jose Mourinho is confident of winning.

"There is a chance for Essien," said Mourinho after his side strolled to a 3-0 win over Sheffield United in the league on Saturday without the powerful Ghanaian who suffered a knee injury in the comeback 3-3 FA Cup draw with Spurs last week.

"We have a replay but that first match was like a victory for us,"the Portuguese coach told reporters. "I am confident because the team is fighting hard.

"I think against Tottenham we were out of the FA Cup at half-time. Nobody believed we could still be in, only us. We fought very hard to get back and deserve this second game at White Hart Lane.

"We are not stupid people, we know it will be a difficult game against difficult opponents. But we firmly believe we are going to win this game and have one more chance to be in the final."

Mourinho said the three goals conceded at home against Spurs were all the result of defensive mistakes.

"But after that we have played two difficult games against Manchester City and Sheffield United and we are back to a normal situation," he said.

Germany captain Michael Ballack, scorer of Chelsea's third goal on Saturday, said Mourinho shook the players up at 3-1 down against Spurs.

"For the fans it's fantastic when it's 3-3 or 4-3 but we made a lot of mistakes and our coach was not happy," he said.

Ballack said the pressure of the packed English schedule with Chelsea, already having won the League Cup and fighting for three other trophies, was a new experience. "We train very well between games but it is new for me to just have one day off in between games," he said. "I can't remember having done it before.

"There was no Christmas break either but I am fine."

Ballack, who played only half the game against Sheffield United to stay fresh, said Chelsea would be wary again of Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov, his former team-mate at Bayer Leverkusen.

"At the moment I think he is very dangerous," Ballack said. "He is very relaxed on the ball, he keeps his cool in every situation on the pitch and that is a great point for him.

"I thought he would be a success in England...he has a great future. Tottenham are playing very well, very strong and are scoring a lot of goals. So we will wait for another big game on Monday."

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

---

• FBI files on Michael Jackson published online
• Poll: Tiger Woods' popularity falls
• Kercher killer's sentence reduced on appeal
• Priest: It's okay to steal from big biz
• Vatican and Israel clash over Pius sainthood

• Irish PM to quit over payments scandal
• NATO chief: Afghan troop increase likely
• Militants hunted as calm retuns to Basra
• Pressure on Bush to skip Olympics
• BA sending misplaced T5 baggage to Milan

• Recruiting suicide bombers (2:50)
• London was lucky (2:36)
• Cars in London rigged as bombs (3:48)
• Second explosives-packed car foun (2:32)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)