Avram Grant may have suffered the setback of another loss to injury but he has welcomed back Michael Ballack into the squad for tomorrow's Carling Cup quarter-final.

With John Terry ruled out for the rest of 2007 and beyond by broken bones in his foot, it is a well-timed return for another international captain, especially into a side also missing Didier Drogba, voted fourth best player in the world this week.

With Michael Essien's suspension at an end, only Terry and Drogba have been declared unavailable to face Liverpool by Grant. That means Ricardo Carvalho has trained well this week after five weeks out with a back problem.

Ballack has not played in the first team since April following ankle surgery.

'It is not easy to come back after such a long injury but Michael is a good character and a good player and that is what is important,' says Grant.

'We have a very good squad but we have missed him. We want him to be available.'

Having had time to reflect on the challenge from Emmanuel Eboué that caused the damage to John Terry's foot, Grant has a point to make.

'Firstly, I don't think it is easy to be a referee these days. The game is much more quick, much more aggressive so I will not complain against the referees,' he makes clear.

'I did it only one time, when we were against Man United because I thought it was more than football. Now, even when I think the referee is wrong, it is reasonable because they are human beings.

'But on the other hand, I see that the main discussion in the last two or three months has been whether Chelsea sends two players to the referee or three players to the referee to complain about decisions.

'I think this is wrong because the main issue is the protection of the players from bad injuries and I think the main discussion needs to be about this, not how many players run to the referee.

'I have seen that many other clubs have more players, including this Saturday when one centre-half ran 50 metres to complain about the referee and nothing happened,' Grant points out. 'Something only happens if Chelsea is doing it.'

'I think it is very easy to make the decision against Chelsea because if you are looking at the red card Essien got recently and other players did very aggressive fouls and they didn't get punished, it has got me thinking.'

Grant has yet to reveal whether Petr Cech will be given a game immediately to put Sunday's slip behind him or whether, as against Hull and Leicester in the previous rounds, he will call upon Carlo Cudicini for this Carling Cup match.

Whatever the final team selection, the semi-final plus a return to winning ways against one of English football's big clubs are the goals.

'To tell you the truth, this is not the major trophy we want but as long as we play for Chelsea, even a friendly game, we want to win,' states Grant.

Bookmakers Paddy Power make Chelsea 8/15 to qualify for the Carling Cup semi-final.