Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas admits he plans to play Danny Sturridge in a wide position this season.

The England Under 21 international is not being considered for the centre-forward position his manager has revealed, although he does have a good chance of regaining the wider role he filled before his recent short-term knee injury.

"I am not sure how Daniel's career will evolve but I think he has natural ability to play on the right flank," Villas-Boas told chelseafc.com.

"He offers me a little bit the characteristics that I had with Hulk playing in that position last season when I was at Porto. I use Daniel on the right because on his left foot he likes to come in and decide his next action with his left foot on the inside, but the good thing is he creates unpredictably when he goes onto his right foot with changes of pace.

"We count him at the moment as a winger and he competes for that position with the others.

"He might play there but for this season we don't plan to use Daniel in the striker position because the competition for the striker position is between Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Romelu Lukaku."