Chelsea optimistic over Kezman

Chelsea remain optimistic striker Mateja Kezman will be available to face Manchester United in their Premiership opener on August 15 despite his sending-off in a pre-season friendly.

However, the fate of the £5.3m (€8m) summer arrival from PSV Eindhoven would now seem to rest with the Football Association and their interpretation of new FIFA regulations.

Kezman netted his fourth goal of the pre-season campaign in Thursday’s warm-up match against Roma.

But he was then dismissed for an altercation with Olivier Dacourt following a needless hack by the former Leeds midfielder on Arjen Robben, which subsequently ruled the Dutch international out of last night’s 3-2 defeat by AC Milan in Chelsea’s final ChampionsWorld Series match against AC Milan at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia.

US Soccer have forwarded a report of the incident to the FA, which they have yet to receive.

According to the relevant article from FIFA’s statutes, which governs the “disciplinary action to be taken at friendly matches between two representative teams from different national associations”, it would be officials at Soho Square who would be given jurisdiction as to whether any further suspension must be served.

Because of his sending off, Kezman was not available for selection last night, and Jose Mourinho believes that means the striker will now be free to face Manchester United when the new Premiership season kicks off.

“I am sure he will be available to play in the (Gianfranco) Zola tribute match and in the first match of the season,” said the Chelsea manager in the London Evening Standard.

“It’s very clear under FIFA article that his suspension starts immediately and is only for the remainder of the competition. That’s the end of it.”

Eidur Gudjohnsen and record signing Didier Drogba both scored first-half goals last night, before Chelsea let their 2-1 lead become a 3-2 reverse against AC Milan.

With Kezman also among the goals recently, Mourinho would seem to have plenty of effective attacking options at his disposal.

“All our strikers are very different and that could help us gel on the pitch,” reflected Gudjohnsen.

“Drogba is a great player, very dangerous and has everything a good centre-forward would want.

“He’s very quick, very strong and I’m looking forward to playing with him.”

After wins over Oxford, then Celtic and Roma, last night’s loss was the first taste of defeat for Mourinho since he took charge during the summer.

However, the former Porto manager has always insisted he is using the tour as a training exercise to fine tune a much-changed squad for what he hopes will be a sustained assault on both the Premiership and Champions League.

“It’s the same as after the victories and was a good training session,” he said.

“Maybe it was even better because Milan are a stronger team and played with a stronger attitude. It was a great training session.”

Cafu had cancelled out Gudjohnsen’s opener with a stunning near-post volley from a corner, before record signing Drogba headed Chelsea back in front before half-time.

Portugal centre-back Ricardo Carvalho came on to make his Chelsea debut in the second period, only for some lax defending to let AC Milan back into the match.

An unmarked Alessandro Costacurta levelled from a corner on 76 minutes, with Andrei Shevchenko’s late free-kick completing the turnaround.

Chelsea have one more friendly – Sunday’s tribute match to Zola at Stamford Bridge – before their Premiership campaign begins.

Mourinho is confident his new-look Blues will be ready for the challenges ahead.

“I am really happy with the tour and the players, the way they are training, their evolution as a team and the way they play,” he said.

“We have the right players and we will be ready. We need more time to become a really good team, but we still have 12 days.”

Mourinho added: “It’s an important match, but it’s just worth three points. It will not decide the season.”