Cole injury blow for Chelsea as Terry warns title rivals

CHELSEA have been brought back to earth after their victory over Manchester United by an injury to England left-back Ashley Cole which threatens to keep him out of action for weeks.

Cole has been diagnosed with a depressed fracture of the tibia after aggravating the problem prior to Sunday’s 1-0 home victory over Manchester United.

The defender missed three games after initially sustaining the injury in the Blues’ 4-0 home win against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last month.

He returned against Madrid in the return Group D game last week but required a painkilling injection in order to play against United.

Cole has been ruled out of the England squad for the friendly against Brazil in Doha on Saturday.

Meanwhile John Terry has warned Chelsea’s title rivals they do not intend to merely sit on their five-point lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Terry’s 76th-minute header gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side a five-point margin over Arsenal at the top of the table and Terry declared: “We’re not going to settle for a five-point gap, we want to increase that lead.

“It’s encouraging that we won both our titles leading from the front. That’s in the back of our minds and it could be key for us. Fingers crossed we can do the same again.

“We have already won more games against the other teams in the ‘Big Four’ than we did last season and that gives us confidence. It’s a good psychological lift for us because it’s where we lost it last year.

“Arsenal are looking good at the moment. They are free-flowing and scoring goals like they always do but when they pick up injuries they tend to miss some key players.

“Manchester United have some tough games coming up as well. It’s important before we lose the African players in January that we build a big cushion.

“It was a bit of a scrappy game. We probably showed each other too much respect. We’ve been playing well at home and we should have continued that and taken the game to them a little bit more.

“Still, we did what we had to do, got another clean sheet, which is really pleasing against a top side.

“United certainly won’t give up. They’ve had a few injuries in their squad and missed a few key players, but once everyone is fit they will push us and Arsenal to the end.”

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti accused United of trying to influence the referee.

“The Manchester players protested a lot,” said Ancelotti. “I don’t know why. I don’t like this. At the end of a very difficult match, all the players worked very hard – and sometimes it can happen.”