WRIGHTY IN RACE TO PLAY

Shaun Wright-Phillips, one of the star performers against Everton in the Carling Cup semi-final first leg, has a chance of making tomorrow's second game according to Avram Grant.

The player who scored the first goal at the Bridge a fortnight ago and had a big hand in the second, turned his ankle during Saturday's win at Birmingham, forcing him out of the game.

However, he has been out working on the pitches at Cobham according to Grant and is fighting to be available.

'The good thing with these players is if they are not 100 per cent, they are doing everything to play,' the Chelsea first-team coach/manager said, giving his assessment before Tuesday afternoon's training session so unable to make a final fitness decision.

'Not all the players have been 100 per cent for the last games but the squad is very short and everybody, including Shaun, is doing everything to play. I don't know if he will play but it is good news that he is out there.'

The England international's availability to play either out wide or in midfield would be a boost given the African absentees and Frank Lampard's thigh injury, which Grant admitted, had suffered a set-back in its recovery.

'All I can say about Frank's injury is he is not available at the moment. It is a little bit more complicated than we first thought but I think that he will be back soon, somewhere between days to two weeks.

'John Terry is not training but I think in two or three weeks, more or less, he will be available to play,' Grant added on the injury front.

Whatever the squad that travels to Merseyside on Tuesday evening, the manager has insisted his team will resist any temptation to defend the single goal advantage they take into the second leg.

'If you come only to defend, you can make a mistake and you have lost the game on just one mistake. And also that has not been our style for the last three months and I do not believe you can come for one game and play differently.

'Maybe you can play differently by 10 per cent but not totally differently.

'Until now we have played the same in away games as in home games. Sometimes it has not worked but most of the time it has. We will not change our system or our style. I believe Everton feel more comfortable to play at home but for us it is the same.'

So far in his two meetings with the Toffees, Grant's record is one win and one draw. As he prepares to take charge of a team at Goodison Park for the first time, he believes regardless of tomorrow night's result, David Moyes's team will be up there come the end of the season.

'They play tactically very well, score goals and they know how to defend well. It is difficult to play against them and they will fight for a place in the Champions League.

'In the first leg we were very good until the sending-off of Mikel. We scored a goal, we had more chances, then came the sending-off. Everton equalised, they had one more very good chance to score but then we came back into the game.

'I can be happy for that result but I can be unhappy because of the sending-off. We could have had a bigger advantage than we have now.'