Parker handed Chelsea debut

Chelsea’s £10m (€14.6m) signing Scott Parker was handed a debut for his new club as they looked to close the gap on Barclaycard Premiership leaders Manchester United at Blackburn.

The former Charlton midfielder was included in a starting line-up featuring five changes to the one which lined up at Scarborough in the FA Cup fourth round last week with injuries and suspensions limiting Claudio Ranieri’s choice.

Parker, Claude Makelele and Emmanuel Petit were all named in midfield as the banned Joe Cole, Jesper Gronkjaer and Alexis Nicolas made way, while Adrian Mutu was preferred to Eidur Gudjohnsen in attack and Glen Johnson replaced Mario Melchiot in defence.

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness made two changes to the side which drew 1-1 at Manchester City last time out with new signing Michael Gray coming in for the suspended Vratislav Gresko at left-back and Andy Todd returning from injury in place of Nils-Eric Johansson.

Blackburn: Friedel, Neill, Babbel, Todd, Gray, Emerton, Flitcroft, Tugay, Douglas, Cole, Yorke. Subs: Jansen, Johansson, Mahon, Gallagher, Enckelman.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Johnson, Gallas, Terry, Bridge, Makelele, Lampard, Parker, Petit, Hasselbaink, Mutu. Subs: Melchiot, Gudjohnsen, Nicolas, Gronkjaer, Sullivan.

Referee: D Gallagher (Oxfordshire)