A Bit Of Iberian Injury News

Villas-Boas pre-Bolton press conference gave him the opportunity to update the fans on the current injury situation within the squad, although the media attendance were probably more interested in his quotes relating to his current job security. Villas-Boas promptly gave them his tape-recorded answer, but on the injury front there was a bit of actual news.

The good news first. Mata is available despite breaking his finger in the last game, and I'm presuming that was the incident immediately after he scored where he was sandwiched between two Napoli defenders.

Unfortunately, this is where the good news ends, because then Villas-Boas went on to confirm that John Terry would miss at least five or six weeks, although he was optimistic for an earlier return for the centre back, something no one can really disagree with him on: Cahill and Luiz are a decent partnership, but now it's going to be tested over about six games, including most likely the return leg of the Champions League. Given that Ivanovic remains our only other available centre back, and he's our best right back at present, it's going to be important for Luiz and Cahill to gel and get used with each other's abilities. There's also some joke in here about Villas-Boas calling Luiz extroverted.

'I don't think it's about communication, both are very extroverted, Gary speaks a lot and organises the defence.I think it is just takes time as a new partnership to get used to the person next to you.

The Portugese then went onto to talk about his compatriot Jose Bosingwa, who will miss two weeks with a hamstring injury. Regardless of what you think of the Portugese, it's not ideal to lose an option in the position, especially given Paulo Ferriera is our next best option (Hutchinson didn't rate a mention when the manager was talking about this issue, so not sure what's happening on that front). Right back is a problem position for Chelsea; Ivanovic is decent, but he was all over the place positionally against Napoli. He's still a major upgrade over Bosingwa, mind.

The final bit of injury news relates more to illness, as it has struck Fernando Torres down from training, and as a result the striker is a doubt for the Bolton game. It's unlikely the Spaniard would have started regardless, and the only ramification of this is that Lukaku may return to the bench in his place, although I wouldn't be surprised if Torres ends up on the bench anyway. Given how the media likes to overplay minor things, like Ashley Cole's "dropping", it may be in the best interests of all concerned if the striker is on the bench - a week of the press lambasting the striker's absence from the entire squad would almost be too much to bear.