CHELSEA FOCUSED ON WEST HAM

Chelsea's players returned to training today amid suggestions that player unrest was threatening to destabilise the remainder of their season.

Chelsea were given the day off yesterday to recover from their Carling Cup final defeat by Tottenham at Wembley.

But the focus of attention has switched to the pre-match build-up which was dominated by speculation that captain John Terry and midfielder Frank Lampard would be left out of the starting line-up.

The pair were omitted for the Champions League match against Olympiacos last Tuesday, and the uncertainty over manager Avram Grant's plans appeared to spill over into an alleged training ground row between the club captain and first-team assistant coach Henk Ten Cate.

Terry and Lampard were included in the side from the kick-off but Chelsea lost the game 2-1 despite taking a first-half lead through Didier Drogba.

Goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Jonathan Woodgate gave Spurs their first trophy since 1999.

When the allegations of a training ground row were put to Chelsea, a spokesman for the club would only say: "All our focus is on our next game."