Chelsea are hoping George Weah will make his debut in tonight's Premiership clash with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge after joining them on loan from AC Milan until the end of the season.

The 1995 World Player of the Year, who has been out of favour at the San Siro this season, will not be eligible for Chelsea's Champions League campaign after representing Milan against Galatasaray.

Chelsea managing director Colin Hutchinson is optimistic that the 33-year-old striker will be available for the match at Stamford Bridge against Spurs.

Hutchinson said Weah had wanted a move to increase his chances of "regular" football after finding himself out in the cold at Milan.

Weah, however, has expressed his anger at being forced to leave Italy. Chelsea pounced to snap up the 33-year-old striker amid reported interest from both Arsenal and Marseille in a deal that looks likely to further restrict the opportunities for record £10 million summer signing Chris Sutton.

Weah will now set his sights on solving Chelsea's goal-scoring problems.

However, the striker made it clear he had desperately wanted to stay in Serie A when he told reporters in Milan: "I wanted to remain in Italy. . . in this way they have ruined my life."

He added: "I wanted to go to Roma, but (Milan's vice-president) Adriano Galliani told me he did not want to strengthen a rival team.

While the headlines in Italy surrounding Weah's departure therefore read "goodbye with poison", Vialli will nevertheless be delighted to have strengthened his strike-force midway through the season.

Tore Andre Flo has been scoring regularly, with five goals in his last four games, but both Sutton and Gianfranco Zola have failed to score more than five goals between them in a total of 39 starting appearances this season.