Cool Cole earning respect of his boss

Jose Mourinho admitted today that Joe Cole's future at Chelsea looked so grim earlier this season that he warned the England midfielder: "It is impossible for you to play in my team."

Mourinho was talking in the wake of another impressive display from Cole in the 3-1 FA Cup win over Scunthorpe and following Cole's admission, in Standard Sport last week, that he has been working hard at being more disciplined in matches.

Cole has delighted Mourinho in recent weeks and the Chelsea boss said: "Joe is improving a lot as a tactical player. But two months ago I told him it was impossible for him to play in my team as a midfield player.

"Last week, he played against Middlesbrough as a midfielder and he was fantastic. Now he can think of the game not as an individual but as one of 11 players. He is improving a lot and is a good boy."

Meanwhile, Chelsea were handed a home tie against Birmingham in today's FA Cup fourth-round draw.

And Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke insisted that the Premiership leaders - who came from behind on Saturday to win the game through goals from Mateja Kezman, Eidur Gudjohnsen and an own goal by Scunthorpe captain Andy Crosby - were deserved favourites to win the Cup.

Clarke said: "We should be favourites as everything we've done this season has been top class. The most important thing was to be drawn at home and Birmingham will get our full respect."

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce said: "I'm still in shock! Only joking, but it's the toughest draw that we could have had."

And Birmingham co-owner David Sullivan did not hide his disappointment after the draw, saying: "I am gutted - we could not have got a worse draw. It is going to be very hard."