Le Saux worried by his 'boot-boy' Duff

14 April 2012

Graeme Le Saux remembers Damien Duff from his early days at Blackburn. "He was a young, scrawny talent back then," said the former Chelsea defender who will have to mark him for Southampton tomorrow. "He could even have been given my boots to clean although I don't remember paying him a Christmas bonus.

"These days he's not quite so scrawny but he's even more talented. It should be interesting."

Le Saux will be hoping Duff doesn't hold any grudges over his thriftiness. It already promises to be a testing afternoon for him and relegationthreatened Southampton.

According to Le Saux, Chelsea already have the Premiership won. If things had been different and Roman Abramovich had made his move earlier, the left-back could have been preparing to crown his career with a title winner's medal.

Instead, with a 50-point gap between Chelsea and Southampton, he is battling for Premiership survival under Harry Redknapp at St Mary's.

The Jersey-born defender, who spent 12 years at Chelsea in two spells before signing for the Saints in the summer of 2003, is not jealous, though. All good things come to an end and it was time to move on.

"I don't feel any envy about what they are achieving now," he said. "I left there for my reasons and they haven't changed.

"It's good to feel wanted and I'm enjoying my time at Southampton.

"I haven't made a decision about what to do at the end of the season and, at the moment, that doesn't matter. What's important now, is how I'm going to keep that Damien Duff quiet."

If he does decide to call it a day in the summer - he will be 37 this October - it looks likely he will join the ranks of former professionals working on television as pundits.

Last week he was part of the BBC's team for England's World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland.

From his commentary position at Old Trafford last Saturday he was able to see for himself just how well Chelsea's England trio of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole are doing.

He said: "John and Frank have been playing like that all season and Joe has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks.

"I would imagine that John and Frank are neck and neck for [the PFA] player of the year award. I'm not revealing who got my vote except that it was one of the two. I've heard all the theories that this is the best time to play Chelsea, just after a busy international week and before their Champions League quarter-final, but we'll see about that.

"They've had a brilliant season up to now, though, and, putting aside the moral ethics of such a large investment and its effects, they're only going to get better.

"They are showing Manchester United and Arsenal a clean pair of heels and they have demonstrated an incredible consistency."

Le Saux is full of praise for manager Jose Mourinho, even though his outspoken approach yesterday landed him a two-match ban and £9,000 fine from UEFA following his role in Chelsea's controversial clash in Barcelona.

He said: "Jose Mourinho is certainly making his mark as well. Up until Christmas he could do no wrong but, since then on occasion, his emotions seem to have got the better of him.

"He has something to learn about how things operate over here and perhaps the club would be disappointed by the way things have been handled at times but he is passionate, a great student of the game, has a refreshing approach and definitely gets the best out of his players, which speaks volumes."

Although Chelsea with Duff and the rest of their stars pose a massive threat to Southampton's hopes of earning three more points in the battle for survival, Le Saux believes they have the character to stay up. He said: "If we slip back to our pre-Christmas form we'll be relegated but if we can maintain our recent improvement, then we should stay up.

"We're going to have to borrow the lion off the Chelsea shirt tomorrow because that's how we're going to have to defend. "Claudio Ranieri used to say 'I want to see the kkkk-nife in your teeth.' We knew what he meant.

"The feeling at Southampton is very positive now. I've been really impressed with Harry and while I've not been involved in a relegation fight before, it's a new challenge which has to be met. As for Chelsea, they will go on to win the Premiership whatever tomorrow's result."

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