Chelsea winger Yuri Zhirkov is fed-up with his current injury problems.

Zhirkov is suffering from a compound knee injury that was aggravated against AC Milan on the pre-season tour of America.

Nevertheless, he was called up by Guus Hiddink and is desperate to shake off a frustrating injury that has proved difficult to diagnose and manage.

"In some ways it would be better if there had been a tear and I knew that I'd be out for a month, for example," said the £18million summer signing from CSKA Moscow.

"Even the doctors cannot say anything definite. It's incredibly difficult. I just want to wake up and know that the pain has completely gone.

"The pain has become far more tolerable. Two weeks ago it hurt to even stand on it and I couldn't train at all.

"It still aches a little. I trained on Saturday before coming to the national team but I collided with another player and it was quite painful.

"But on my first day back here I crawled on my knees, playing with my son for more than an hour, and I forgot about it."

To make matters worse, Zhirkov has also needed to see a dentist for toothache since returning to Russia.