Ranieri's millionaires hold no fears for Luzhny

Oleg Luzhny today urged his Wolves team-mates not to be intimidated by Chelsea's galaxy of stars.


The Ukrainian defender refuses to believe the hype surrounding Roman Abramovich, who he reckons is no different to any other wealthy club owner.

The Russian tycoon may have spent £111million on new players but, according Luzhny, his allstar team have no better than an even-money chance of victory at Molineux tomorrow.

The former Arsenal full-back said: "I wouldn't say it's a big problem for clubs like Wolves to compete - we play on the same pitch with the same ball.

"When we go out there we have the same chance of winning as Chelsea. It's 50-50, 11 versus 11.

"How has Abramovich changed the face of English football? If his manager likes a player then he buys him. If other teams can't afford those players then it's a problem for the other teams and their chairmen and managers, not a problem for Abramovich."

While Chelsea are unbeaten since the Russian billionaire took over in July, Wolves are still searching for their first Premiership win. Luzhny, who is back in contention after a toe injury, added: "Every game we are getting more confident and improving. We need points because we are bottom of the table."

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri is expecting a tough game from a defensively-minded Wolves side.

The Italian is likely to make sweeping changes to the team that beat Sparta Prague on Tuesday. Geremi is suspended following his sending-off against Leicester and Adrian Mutu is doubtful with an ankle injury. John Terry, Frank Lampard, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen could return to the starting line-up. Joe Cole is also set to feature at some stage.

Ranieri said: "These are the matches with more difficulties and if we don't understand this we cannot improve. The team must be ready to overcome these difficulties.We must improve our mentality, our focus and our motivation.

"It will be a very compact game. Because they have drawn only once against Portsmouth, they want to get a result. I think they'll play in a very tight position, very deep and play on the counter attack. They will play at the maximum level but we are ready to play against Wolves and I am looking forward to our performance."

Striker Kenny Miller and goalkeeper Matt Murray are still out for Wolves, but midfielder Hassan Kachloul is available for the first time following his loan signing from Aston Villa.

  • Wolves v Chelsea, Molineux, 12.30pm, tomorrow, Live on Sky Sports 2

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