Duff - competition will improve us
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea winger Damien Duff hopes the arrival of Shaun Wright-Phillips will inspire the Blues to Champions League glory.
Wright-Phillips made his Chelsea debut in a friendly against AC Milan last night and gave a performance which suggests the £21million signing from Manchester City can play a key role at Stamford Bridge.
Duff's place in Jose Mourinho's 4-3-3 formation is threatened by Wright-Phillips' decision to join the Barclays Premiership champions while Arjen Robben and Joe Cole also face increased competition.
But Duff and Robben are prone to injury which left Chelsea short of pace on the wings at times last season - most crucially during the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool.
Duff missed both games through injury while Robben's own spell in the treatment room ensured he failed to make an impact as a substitute. Buying Wright-Phillips, 23, has provided Mourinho with cover in a vital area.
Republic of Ireland international Duff understands the logic behind Chelsea's latest addition to their star-studded squad and believes the Blues can now go all the way in Europe.
"We're all up for the fight and it's only going to improve us as players. With Shaun coming in there are four wingers going for two spots which will keep everyone on their toes," he said.
"You can never stop learning either and I'm sure I can learn from Shaun, Robben and Cole. We've got different qualities but we're basically the same. We all like to take people on and create, which can only be good for us.
"It's not for me to say whether the team relied too much on myself and Arjen, but we went out in the semi-finals of the Champions League and are looking to go further in the competition this season.
"Hopefully the new signing will boost the squad and enable us to do that."Mourinho played two different sides for each half against Milan - Chelsea's first opponents on their tour of the United States - with Wright-Phillips coming on in the second half. Duff was impressed with what he saw.
"Shaun did really well, looked sharp and was as quick as everyone knows he is. He'll do brilliantly for Chelsea in the years to come. He's the quickest player at the club by far and we were all laughing on the sidelines, " he said.
Mourinho was delighted by the cutting edge Wright-Phillips' arrival provided Chelsea and impressed by the speed with which the England winger has settled into the line-up.
"I'm very pleased with Shaun because he's only been working with us for one week," he told the Evening Standard.
"He's learning a lot and it's early for him to understand the way we work, the way we press and the way we play positionally.
"I saw very good communication between him and the midfielders and when he had the ball he was what he is - very dangerous, very sharp, very fast and very creative."He gave a lot of problems to Kakha Kaladze and Alessandro Nesta and they are good players, so Shaun has a lot of potential and we will work with him."
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