Chelsea appeal Essien red

Chelsea have announced that they will be appealing the three match ban given to Michael Essien after his red card given for apparently elbowing Kenny Miller in Chelsea's 2-0 win over Derby last weekend.

Essien as of now is set to miss the games against West Ham, Sunderland and Arsenal and team-mate Ashley Cole has admitted that missing the 24-year-old is a ‘big blow’.

"We are not happy with the decision with Michael Essien," said the Blues left-back.

"But I don't want to go shouting my mouth off because I will get into trouble. From what I saw, it did not look like he really got him.

"He does that every day in training. It is just the way he is. He does not mean to hurt anyone. He just plays hard. We all know how strong he is and he is not a nasty player.

"It is a big blow to lose him for a suspension now, because we have got a lot of tough games coming up and it is going to be tough without him.”