Ryan put us on treasure hunt
❑ THE FA say Rochdale have had only limited help from them in relaying their pitch for Sunday’s tie with Tottenham.
League One Rochdale made the decision themselves after their previous game with Fleetwood had to be postponed because the heavily sanded surface was not fit to play.
Staging the televised game at this stage will earn the club £247,500, roughly the estimated cost of the work, which would have been carried out anyway to get them through to the end of the season.
MATTHEW DUNN Ultimately, it was a decision he had to make. He really has been great with the way he has helped me and I’m sure we’ll stay in touch.”
Both Mason’s parents are seasonticket holders at Stamford Bridge but he is not expected to be at the game this evening, although the club will invite the family to a match later in the season.
It is a big few days for Chelsea and striker Alvaro Morata is on a programme to make sure he is firing on all cylinders for Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, with Antonio Conte willing to use tonight’s match to fine-tune him back to full fitness. Morata had been out with a niggling back injury since he was sent off for a second yellow card in the final minute of the club’s penalty shoot-out victory over Norwich in the third-round replay.
However, on Monday he returned for a 30-minute cameo in the emphatic 3-0 Premier League victory over West Brom and Conte has indicated he will use Morata against Championship strugglers Hull, who will be missing as many as 11 of their top names due to their own injury crisis.
“Morata started last week in training with us, from Saturday,” said Conte. “Now he is training with regularity. Tomorrow is another good step for him to prepare for the Barcelona game. For sure, he is a key part of the plan. In every moment, it’s very important to have your players, all your players available.
“In this case, to have two No 9s in Morata and Olivier Giroud – to have two options – is very important for us. For a lot of time, we tried to play with Eden Hazard as a No 9.
“Then I have to make the best decision for the starting XI. Alvaro is a player with a good maturity. The competition is good for the team. A great team must have competition in every position.
“But Giroud is a good option. He is very strong and he can help us.”