Branislav Ivanovic returns to training

Not much news on the transfer front today, but there is some very good news on the injury front. Center back/right back Branislav Ivanovic returned to training today at Cobham and participated in the full workout without incident. Ivanovic went off injured during the pre-christmas Tottenham fixture leaving Jose Bosingwa to fill in (admirably) at center back for the remainder of that contest. Since then we've lucked out with John Terry and David Luiz remaining healthy, but it appears that we'll be back to full strength in the heart of the defense beginning Saturday.

It's unclear if Ivanovic will play a part against Norwich but he will be available for selection. Combined with the return of Michael Essien last weekend Chelsea may be the deepest they've been all season despite having a pair of attackers off at the ACoN. Ideally he'll slot back in as the starting right back and relegate Jose Bosingwa to the bench, but if it's another week before that happens I'll be happy enough as well. Either way it's good to be finally reaching full strength again at a time where we could reasonably expect to put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the pack chasing the final Champions League place (as well as gain some ground on the top of the table). Welcome back Brani, we missed you.