Grant gives United credit

11:20pm Sunday 11th May 2008

CHELSEA boss Avram Grant congratulated Sir Alex Ferguson on winning his 10th Premier League title.

Grant was generous in his praise of their rivals in the race for the championship who they meet in the Champions League final in nine days.

And he said he was confident his skipper John Terry would be fit for that game after dislocating his elbow during yesterday's match.

"First I want to congratulate Manchester United," said Grant. "They had a great season and I have sent a message to Alex Ferguson congratulating him. He is a great manager and a great person. I like him personally. I wished him all the best.

"It is amazing what he has done. I remember at the start when he had problems so it is an amazing achievement.

"John did not break his elbow. But we need to wait and see. We will know if he is fit for the final in a few days.

"I don't want to see the day when John Terry is not confident of being fit. It is good news that he didn't break his elbow. He is strong enough to recover but we will wait and see.

"In 10 days we play the final so we will take a decision nearer the time. We need to see that he is fit to play.

"It is firstly the decision of the medical department to see if he can play or not but there is no need to rush, we have time."

Terry, who returned from hospital to join his team-mates on the pitch at the end of the game, believes he will be fit enough to play after four or five days of rest.

But Grant was also concerned about the fitness of Didier Drogba. The striker got a kick on his left knee 10 minutes from time against Bolton and the Chelsea boss admitted he was struggling.

"He could not come off because we had used all our substitutes," said Grant. "He did everything to finish the game. It does not look so good but we need wait again."

All eyes are now focused on their showdown with United in Moscow and Grant believes his side have enough power left in the tank for last onslaught.

"Getting to the final was our target," said Grant. "When you get there you want to win it. We want to win it. We wanted to win the league also but it was never, for one minute, in our hands.

"The players gave everything but when they heard it was 2-0 to United, the last 10 minutes was for the protocol and then we conceded a goal.

"But in the last months we have developed our football and the last game of the season in Moscow is one we want to win.

"We need to be very proud of what we have done this year. We don't want to go the final to be part of it, we want to win it."