Wright-Phillips fears Chelsea fatigue

Chelsea FC winger Shaun Wright-Phillips is hoping fatigue and suspensions do not combine to undermine his side's bid to secure an unprecedented quadruple of trophies as the English champions prepare for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final with Liverpool FC.

Four-way assault
The London club already have the English League Cup under lock and key, and will meet Manchester United FC in next month's FA Cup final. Unusually they missed a trick in the Premiership at the weekend, passing up the opportunity to close to within a point of leaders United as they were held to a goalless draw at Newcastle United FC on Sunday - and Wright-Phillips trusts that the stalemate is not a sign that the exertions of their four-pronged campaign are starting to tell.

Punishing schedule
"I can still get better but it's hard right now because the games are catching up with us," said the 25-year-old English international, who has featured in eleven of Chelsea's last 13 matches in a punishing schedule. Wright-Phillips's team have played six more games in 2007 than their semi-final opponents, and the right-sided raider acknowledges that such demands on the squad have taken a heavy toll, saying: "Everyone is feeling it, mentally as well as physically. We have had a game every three days which has been hard."

'Tread lightly'
Already without Arjen Robben and Michael Ballack through injury, Chelsea are also deprived of Ghanaian international Michael Essien through suspension, and with three other players who should figure at Stamford Bridge – Joe Cole, Lassana Diarra and Didier Drogba – within a caution of missing next week's trip to Anfield, Wright-Phillips recognises that his team-mates must keep their discipline. "We have to be very careful - we don't want any players missing the next leg so we have to tread lightly," he said. "That won't be easy but we will have to learn to adapt. We look after each other anyway so that should naturally follow."

'Hard work'
Having met in the 2004/05 semi-finals as well as last season's group stage, Chelsea and Liverpool are certainly well acquainted, although with their last four league encounters yielding ten goals compared to one in four UEFA Champions League fixtures, Wright-Phillips anticipates a more cautious affair than the usual Premiership tussle. "We don't know what type of game it will be, it depends on how Liverpool play. All we know is that it is going to be hard in a number of ways. We know this game will be difficult, it's going to be hard work and we will be trying to do our best."