Grant dismisses Shevchenko fears

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Chelsea are missing Didier Drogba for at least three weeks (knee surgery) leaving Shevchenko - who failed to emerge after the interval in Tuesday night's Champions League goalless draw against Valencia - to spearhead the attack.

Grant said: "The decision to bring Shevchenko off at half time was made before the game. He has not played many full games so we need to keep him in shape. He is supposed to play on Sunday."

He added: "We knew he was playing three games in eight days and there are many more matches to come.

"It was a decision that Shevchenko and Frank Lampard would not play for 90 minutes because this match was not important for qualification.

"Shevchenko knew before the game that he would be coming off.

"Maybe if he had stayed on the pitch he would have scored but we felt it more important that he keep his physical condition."

Chelsea had already qualified for the Champions League knockout stages as Group B winners, regardless of Tuesday night's result, but it was a disappointing finale to their group campaign at Stamford Bridge as they toiled to dispatch a side that also struggled for long spells.

Grant added: "This game was not important for qualification so we wanted to play good football.

"We played some great stuff and should have won 5-0. It's a good feeling to finish top of the group. But it's more important how we played and we performed very well. We want to be at least in the Champions League final."