Chelsea aren't leaving anything to chance ahead of Sunday's crucial trip to Anfield. The team that scored seven against Stoke last weekend had extra shooting practice this week as they prepare for the match which could decide the fate of the Premier League title race.At least Didier Drogba thinks so. The Ivory Coast striker - who's duelling with Wayne Rooney for the Golden Boot award - agreed to talk to Sportsworld between shooting practice and further treatment on his hernia problem. He was digesting the front page of the newspaper when I came into the room, but having brought him up to speed on Gordon Brown's encounter with Gillian Duffy, and warned him that the microphone was now live, he told me how this season has been the best of his career.
"I've been here for six years and many things have been said in the last six years - including by me. But I'm here, I'm scoring goals, creating some assists and I think this is the best season of my career. It's nice to be in the same place for many years. For me and for my kids, it's important to have some stability. I feel good here."
One of the reasons he signed a further three year contract with Chelsea last August is the memory of having to leave the Ivory Coast's capital Abidjan, and his parents, at the age of just 5 to start a new life with his uncle in France. He's thrived in Carlo Ancelotti's first season at Stamford Bridge - scoring 32 goals in a Chelsea side which has rattled in 93 in the Premier League alone.
"When (Ancelotti) was in Milan, they were playing attacking football and always playing with 2 or 4 attacking players. They used to play well. I think he's one of the guys who changed the mentality in Italy: to play forward and score more goals."
There will be no surgery on Drogba's troublesome hernia this side of the World Cup Finals. He's not playing pain free, but assures fans in the Ivory Coast that he will not be held back by injury when the team come up against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in Group G.
"I will be able to play at my best. It's sometimes painful, but I don't see any player at this stage of the season who's playing pain free, who's not tired or something like that. This is not a big big big deal. It's sometimes painful, but it's not a big big big problem which is why I will wait until the end of the World Cup to do the surgery. I'm not even worried about it."
He is, though, worried about the "scandalous" statistic that an African child dies of malaria every thirty seconds. Drogba, Chelsea, and their official international charity partner Right To Play are supporting the United Against Malaria campaign, which aims to encourage families to sleep under nets to beat the disease by the time of the next World Cup in Brazil. Drogba, Michael Essien and Haile Gebrselassie are some of the stars who will be featured on information cards that will be given out alongside the nets.
"It is scandalous" Drogba told me, "and something that has been there for years and years, so the fact that the World Cup is in Africa this year is a big opportunity to call people and say look this is what is happening in Africa, this is what is killing kids. This is a really easy problem to solve. When you speak about malaria, people think it's like HIV, but it's very easy to fight: you need a net, just a net, and then you are OK."
You can hear the whole interview with Didier Drogba on Sportsworld this Saturday from 14 hours GMT, and then you can give me your reaction on Sportsworld Have Your Say from 1730. Will Chelsea's inconsistent away form cost them the title at Anfield on Sunday? And if you are in the Ivory Coast, are you confident that Drogba will be at his best come the World Cup Finals?
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