Premiership: Desailly urges Gallas to bide time

Chelsea Captain Marcel Desailly has warned teammate William Gallas that it is too late to force his way into the French World Cup squad - as Manchester United’s Mikael Silvestre is a permanent fixture.

Desailly believes 24-year-old Gallas, who has returned to Chelsea’s line-up after injury recently with improving displays, has a definite international future.

However, the former France Under-21 international is not currently part of the senior squad and, barring an injury crisis, has been told not to expect a late call-up before the tournament.

France skipper Desailly declared: ‘‘William is unlucky as he has missed the train.

‘‘Even if Silvestre is not better than him, he is inside the group of France already.

‘‘He can do badly at Manchester United but he’s in the atmosphere, knows everyone and we know he is a good player whether he has a good or bad time.

‘‘The manager is not going to give anyone else a chance now. The group is already there.’’

Desailly told Chelsea TV: ‘‘We were in the semi-finals at Euro ’96, we won the World Cup in 1998 and we won at Euro 2000.

‘‘It’s difficult to let someone inside the group as you don’t know how he will react. He will need time and we don’t have time as we need to perform straight away.

‘‘But William will come straight away after the World Cup and will be one of the good players. Frank Leboeuf is going to retire and he will be there after that.’’

Although Gallas needed treatment to a knock after the midweek win against Tottenham, he should again partner Desailly at the heart of Chelsea’s defence tomorrow against Sunderland in the continued absence of John Terry.

Boss Claudio Ranieri will have to assess the fitness of Jesper Gronkjaer, who has played twice in four days after a long-term absence with a knee injury, as the club target a Champions League finish.

And while Albert Ferrer, Mark Bosnich and Boudewijn Zenden are still on the comeback trail, Graeme Le Saux faces a fitness test on his ankle.

He was injured by the tackle that earned Mauricio Taricco a red card in Spurs’ 4-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, with physio Mike Banks insisting the full-back was fortunate to escape serious injury.

‘‘Graeme may not be able to train for a couple of days but hopefully he will be all right to make the squad for this weekend,’’ he said.

Celestine Babayaro should continue at left-back and while Gallas will miss out on the World Cup, the Nigerian’s tournament hopes have recently improved.

He started just one game at the African Nations’ Cup but he believes that a subsequent change in national coach could benefit Nigeria ahead of their World Cup meeting with England.

‘‘Apart from that one game, I sat on the bench and that was after I had been playing here regularly,’’ observed Babayaro.

‘‘Some other player - and I don’t even know what team he plays for was playing instead of me. I just said what will be, will be, but I hope the new coach is good news for Nigeria and bad news for England.’’