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Chelsea and England defender Ashley Cole will play against Manchester United tomorrow, even amid the controversy surrounding him after an air-rifle incident at his soccer club’s training ground.

According to yesterday’s News of the World Cole brought a .22 air rifle to Chelsea’s training ground. While clowning around with the riffle, Cole accidentally shot 21-year-old student intern Tom Cowan.

Cowan was treated by on-site staff and given two days of sick leave, and was not sent to the hospital nor were police called. Cowan’s father complained after his son’s wounds re-opened two days later. Chelsea have now fined Cole and police are investigating the incident.

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti today confirmed Cole will be in the starting line-up at Stamford Bridge as he fielded questions about the air-rifle incident.

“Obviously, we are not happy with what happened,” Ancelotti said at a televised press conference today. “It was an accident. We have taken proper action but tomorrow he will play.”

The News of the World reported that Chelsea’s medical staff treated the 21-year-old student at the team’s training ground in Cobham, south of London, and that he wasn’t taken to hospital. Ancelotti said Cole has apologized for his “mistake” to the student, his own teammates and the club.

“The mistake was that the gun was here in Cobham,” the Italian said. “We didn’t know the gun was here.”

So here are my questions. Why did Ashley Cole have a gun at Cobham in the first place? If Chelsea were playing Wolves or Wigan, would Ancelotti have dropped Cole for the game to show him that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable?

photo credit: Crystian Cruz