18th December, 2012
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is planning three big signings in January, with Everton star Marouane Fellaini top of the agenda.
The London Evening Standard says Fellaini is one of three players, along with forwards Radamel Falcao and Theo Walcott, who Chelsea owner Abramovich is prepared to spend heavily on next month to ensure his club’s campaign does not go into freefall.
The Blues arrived back from Japan today, following their 1-0 defeat in the FIFA Club World Cup Final to Corinthians.
It is the fourth trophy the club have lost out on this season following defeats in the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup and their exit from the Champions League this month, when they became the first holders to fail to make it out of the group stages.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Capital One Cup clash with Leeds United tomorrow could be one of the most important games for the Blues this season, according to midfielder Frank Lampard.
Lampard, 34, returned from Chelsea’s unsuccessful Club World Cup campaign yesterday urging his teammates to quickly recover from the loss to Corinthians and focus on getting the club’s season back on track.
“We have to pick it up for Leeds and then get our form back at home,” Lampard said.
“We got a result against Sunderland before we went out to Japan and it’s very important that we do our stuff, not just with Leeds but the Premier League games over Christmas.
“If we win at Leeds we’ll be in the semi-final and with the possibility of a decent draw, but we’ve got to win the games. It’s tough to go to Elland Road. There’s a rivalry.
“We’re aware of it and we have to play with passion and do the physical side of things because they’re going to be right at it. We can’t expect to go up there and tap it around and get a result. We have to do both sides.”