Nicolas Anelka blasts "racist" France and insists: I never sang the national anthem

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka this week launched an extraordinary blast at his “racist” countrymen insisting: “I never wanted to sing the French national anthem”.

Anelka, born in Versaille but of Guadaloupe origins, is currently serving an 18-month international suspension after his infamous “son of a whore” fall-out with Raymond Domenech during their disastrous World Cup safari to South Africa.

Before Saturday’s clash with Tottenham and tomorrow's Champions League showdown at Marseille, the 31-year-old, formerly of Paris St Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Fenerbahce, Liverpool and Bolton, said: "When France doesn’t win, people start talking straight away about skin colour and religion. When times get tough we find out what people really think.

"They said there was a gang of black players in the French squad at the World Cup, and we then saw the true face of France. They said Franck Ribery had hit Yoann Gourcuff. Ribery was the Muslim, and Gourcuff was the good French boy.”

Anelka won 69 French caps and scored 14 goals for his nation. But with his international career over, he raged: "I have never wanted to sing the national anthem with France. Had they insisted I'd have refused, and quit playing for them.

"The fact I grew up on a high-rise estate counted against me. I was the first player from this background to own a Ferrari, and it did people's heads in.

"People in France have a false picture of me. Everything I have achieved has been abroad. I am not 'made in France' – at home, I have had nothing but trouble."

Anelka’s comments are sure to raise a storm in France – and are unlikely to help his Chelsea team-mates, currently suffering a serious slump in form which has seen them take just five points from their last six games and drop off the top of the Premier League.

The French are revolting. Just ask President Sarkozy.

Distressed South Africans take heart. There has never been a better time to play France. Just ask president Nicolas Sarkozy. They’re revolting.

Yesterday’s open training session in picturesque Knysna featured a furious argument, a player boycott and the resignation of their federation’s managing director Jean-Louis Valentin. That’s a fairly ordinary day for the French at this World Cup.

Group A at this shock-laden tournament will go down to the wire on Tuesday - but when the hosts play the 1998 World Champions, three points for either side won’t be enough if Uruguay and Mexico fight out a draw in Phokeang.

But even if go down in history as the first home nation to fail to emerge from the group stages, BafanaBafana would consider a final triumph over the French in Bloemfontein a major step in the right direction after their 3-0 defeat at the hands of Uruguay.

And a win for the Rainbow Nation might just be on the cards after the latest episode in the French soap opera.

Already riven by all kinds of divisions under outgoing coach Raymond Domenech, tension reached boiling point on Friday when Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home by the French Football Federation.

Anelka was kicked out after French newspaper L’Equipe were told by a mole (“a traitor” if you ask Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra) what went on at half-time during last Thursday’s shock 2-0 defeat against Mexico. They said Anelka called Domenech “the son of a whore” in Polokwane. Anelka denied it and refused to apologise. Thanks very much Nicolas, and good night, said the FFF.

But today, after walking off the training field, the squad released a statement saying: "The players are unanimously against the French Football Federation's decision to expel Nicolas. But we will do everything individually and in a collective spirit against South Africa in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.”

And off they toddled. Revolting. Not that training was going particularly well anyway. Everything shuddered to a halt when captain Patrice Evra and fitness coach Robert Duverne had to be pulled apart byDomenech.

Duverne angrily threw his stopwatch away in an untimely outburst... and departed. The players decamped to the team bus before releasing their statement.

Then FFF boss Jean-Louis Valentin added to the chaos, announcing: "They don't want to train, it's a scandal. It's a scandal for French people, for the youngsters who came here to watch them train. I'm resigning, I'm leaving the Federation. I have nothing more to do here. I'm going back to Paris."

Asked if he was l’Equipe’s mole, a clearly distressed Valentin replied "no, no, no".

President Sarkozy’s advisor Henri Guaino said: “It's no longer football, it's no longer sport, it's no longer a team but I am not convinced that a political intervention would solve this kind of problem."

England’s John Terry, who is not revolting, added his opinion on team-mate Anelka just to help matters. Ignoring for a moment his side’s appalling showing at this World Cup so far, the former captain said: "Nico is a really good guy and he is a great player as well. Before he came to Chelsea, there was a lot of negative stuff written about him. But you won't find a better man in football.

"He is someone who is very quiet and been in the game a long time and knows his football. If he had something to say to me, I would stand up and listen."

Neal Collins is in South Africa to complain about England's performance and promote his first novel A GAME APART. See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

To see Neal at the National Arts Festival on July 4, go tohttp://www.computicket.com/web/event/neal_collins_a_game_apart/148367625.

Anelka Strikes at Last and Now Chelsea are Bolted on For The Title

BOLTON striker Kevin Davies must be kicking himself tonight. He got kicked by numerous Chelsea defenders in his side’s 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge last night, so perhaps that’s apt.

Tough guy Davies told us yesterday that his old buddy Anelka didn’t get on with fellow Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. So what happens in the 43^rd minute? Drogba flights in a cunning cross with his left foot and Anelka nodded home his first goal in three months. The perfect old pal’s act.

That goal in the “psychologically vital” period before half-time did for battling Bolton, whose hoped-for miracle against the leaders never quite materialised.

Victory puts the Blues in pole position for the title with just four Premier League games to play. They’re four points clear of fading Manchester United and six better than Arsenal, who play their game in hand against North London rivals Spurs at White Hart Lane tonight.

As the Wanderers ambled down the M1 to London with around 250 fans on the road with them, Davies was probably showing off about his attempt to unsettled Chelsea. The man who spent 18 months up alongside Anelka in the Frenchman’s 63 games for the Wanderers, assured us: “There doesn’t seem to be a great bond between Nic and Didier. There’s something not quite right – I’m not sure they get on very well together.

“Nicolas lights up when he plays on his own. He’s a great player but at the moment you feel he’s just not that happy.”

And of course, all he did was ensure Drogba and Anelka would bond perfectly. And at just the right time. It’s not as if the leaders were that comfortable. Davies clashed heads with Yuri Zhirkov, who was left bleeding profusely. The Russian bravely played on. Chelsea captain John Terry injured himself blocking a Davies shot 18 minutes in, but he too played on with a dodgy ankle.

But for all the bluster, Bolton couldn’t quite get to the break on even terms.

They nearly got back to a level playing field in the 62^nd minute, when a struggling Terry appeared to use an arm in the penalty area. The linesman laughed it off, indicating a slightly hairy chest had been involved. On the bench, Bolton boss Owen Coyle was tearing what’s left of his Scottish hair out.

While Anelka scored the vital goal before he was replaced in the second half, another former Arsenal man, Jack Wilshere, caught the eye too. Coyle has been demanding a World Cup call-up for the teenager on loan from the Emirates Stadium.

Certainly the 18-year-old midfielder showed talent – and attitude – before his substitution in the 82^nd minute. But Frank Lampard, the current immovable object in the England midfield, so nearly produced the vital second goal, crashing a 25-yard effort against the post after73 minutes.

There was time for Terry, looking comfortable after his ankle problem, to crash a well-struck shot just wide. But then, with five to play, Bolton sub Johan Elmander, the £9m Swede, flicked his header inches wide of Petr Cech’s goal. And that was it, the moment the title began its inexorable move back to Stamford Bridge after an absence of three painful years.

By then, Davies had been booked for a challenge on John Obi Mikel and a day that had started with such defiance gradually declined into submission.

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Out-powered. Out-classed. For Arsenal, the war is over

SO that's it for another season, Gooners. The Premier League trophy will have to wait for yet another year. After Arsenal 0, Chelsea 3 today, the Blues are 11 points clear of their north London rivals. And that gap is not going to narrow on the evidence of yesterday's showdown.

As Jamie Redknapp said: "Out-powered, out-classed. Chelsea were on another level to Arsenal."

He's right of course. I saw Nigel Winterburn yesterday trying to think of Arsenal players who would get in the Chelsea team. Eduardo and Andrei Arshavin wouldn't have a hope against Didier Drogba, who scored two yesterday, and former Gunner Nicolas Anelka, who simply cut his old side apart. The injured Robin van Persie is hardly in that class either.

Winterburn suggested Thomas Vermaelen, who contributed an own goal yesterday, but given the dominance of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, I can't see a place for the Verminator either.

And in the middle of the park, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Co are hardly going to be threatened by lightweights like Alex Song, taken off at half-time, and Denilson. Men against boys.

Typically, Arsenal played their pretty football. But despite the imploring Emirates crowd, the shots never came. In front of goal, the loss of Emmanuel Adebayor remains glaring. Wenger's moth-filled wallet should have creaked open for a new striker when the Togo international went to Manchester City, but it never happened.

And the one real chance, where Arshavin scored at 2-0 down in the second half, was righly ruled out for Eduardo's high foot, which took the ball out of Petr Cech's hands.

Drogba, who now boasts ten goals in nine games against Arsenal, said: "I like to play against them. They used to be the team everyone in France supported. I really like a win like this. I was pointing at my right boot as I came off to show the red laces, my part in the campaign against AIDS.

"Last season we showed we could be champions but we lost a lot of points at home. This season, we don't give the opposition any chances. We have more confidence, it's easier."

John Terry said: "Once again, we soaked it up. Going forward, we were exceptional. Our midfielders were going through the middle of them. We have to stay together now. You can see people throwing their bodies in front of balls. Fighting for eachother."

Carlo Ancelotti certainly seems to have his team playing for eachother, a trick Jose Mourinho managed but Avram Grant, Phil Scolari and Guus Hiddink couldn't quite match.

Ancelotti, five points clear at the top, said: "Today in defence we were fantastic. Offensively we could do better, sometimes we lost the ball. We have to stay at the training ground."

Sure, Manchester United shrugged off Portsmouth yesterday with a Wayne Rooney hat-trick - and didn't Ryan Giggs do well - but Chelsea are different gravy.

Of more imporance in north London? Fourth place. Spurs are third at the moment at look like they might stay there after their 1-1 draw against Aston Villa. Fifth-placed Liverpool saw off Everton 2-0 to win the Merseyside derby and start putting pressure on Arsenal.

And Wenger has to accept, as the seats at the Emirates emptied long before the finish, Arsenal fans fear years of under-investment could finally see the Gunners slip out of the top four.

Wenger, whose pledge to end the five-year trophy drought is looking a little hollow, said: "The first part of the game was all us. Their first shot of the game went in. We find ourselves 2-0 down at half-time and it's difficult. We were very unfortunate to be like that a half-time.

"I watched the decision on the goal we scored five times, I still don't understand it. It was their player who had a foot up (as he said that, the television replay showed Eduardo kicking the ball out of Petr Cech's hands before Arshavin's fine finish). We had plenty opportunites where, with a better first touch and more belief, we could score.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of. It all went Chelsea's way today. I was not specially impressed with what happened on the pitch but they took their chances well. We're not in the title race right now but it's up to us to come back into it."

And Arsenal fans everywhere held their head in their hands.