Park Surprised By Drogba Return

Former Manchester United star Ji-sung Park admits he is surprised to see Didier Drogba back leading the line for Chelsea.

The popular South Korean claims the Ivory Coast attacker will still be a threat, even at the age of 36, if he is selected by Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford. Question marks over the involvement of Diego Costa and Loic Remy could open the door for the veteran, who scored the opening goal of his second spell at Stamford Bridge during the Champions League thrashing of Maribor in midweek.

When asked about Drogba's return, Park replied: "I am very surprised. Maybe it’s the effect of Jose Mourinho. But when Drogba left Chelsea, nobody thought he would go back there again and yet it’s happened. He’s not like the player he was before but he knows Chelsea and he knows the Premier League and he’s still got the quality to score goals as well. He’s a good option for them and he’s the kind of experienced player you need in a team."

Park can draw parallels between the powerful Mourinho teams he lined up against and fears Cesc Fabregas could be an influential figure, unless he is shackled like he often was as an Arsenal player during Sir Alex Ferguson's reign.

"Some of the main players have changed but the way they play is not that different to when Jose Mourinho was there before," added Park. "They are a strong team and they have shown their quality so far this season. They bought some good players this summer as well.

"Fabregas knows the Premier League and knows about playing at Old Trafford as well. I think we need to be careful about that. We prepared well against him when he was at Arsenal but really we shouldn’t worry about the Chelsea players’ performance. We need to focus on our performance. If we perform well, it doesn’t matter who we are playing against – United can get a good result against anyone.

"Chelsea are top of the league but that doesn’t give them an advantage for this game. It’s at Old Trafford so they won’t feel too sure of coming here to win the game. We need to show our quality on the pitch as we always did, not feel any pressure, enjoy the game and then individually perform well. If we do all that, then we can get a good result."

Ji-sung Park writes his first ambassador's column in Sunday's United Review, the official matchday programme.