After almost two months of absence from the field; Chelsea captain could enter in the New Year with his recovery from knee injury. Notably, the captain was sidelined after he faced four matches’ suspension over his racial comment row and then his knee injury against Liverpool. Recently, he signaled a comeback when he attended Chelsea training session, and now, he played as an overage player for Chelsea under-21 team against neighbor Fulham on Thursday. Though, he stayed for only 45 minutes on the field, but each of his movements has been continuously tracked by interim manager Rafael Benitez who was presented at the stadium. Perhaps, his attendance also marked a moral boost among under-21 team and they defeated southwest London club by 2-0. Under-21 manager Dermot Drummy issued a statement via club website that reads as, “John inspires all of the players. He leads by example but the most important thing from the club’s point of view is that he looked in good shape.”
Though, the captain is yet to play under the mentorship of newly appointed temporary manager Benitez who joined Chelsea after immediate sacking of previous manager Roberto Di Matteo back in November, and it would be interested to see how he manages his tuning with new manager, coz earlier; he found to have some itchy experiences in dealing with the manager.
Anyways, good news is John Terry showed no apparent signs of any physical problem whatsoever, so everyone is expecting his early comeback for the A team, especially looking at the Chelsea position in the leaderboard. Chelsea lost Capital One Cup semi-final first-leg match to Swansea on Wednesday, and second leg to be played three days later, but he is unlikely to play this match, however, he is expected to participate in a showdown against Arsenal on Sunday. On asking about his availability for the team, Terry said, “The knee feels totally fine and it was good to get 45 minutes under my belt. It has been a frustrating two months. I felt totally fine, passing and tackling. It is really positive to come through the game and hopefully give myself a chance to be back involved with the first team.
“Maybe it is too soon to get back starting and the lads have been playing well as well. I know better than anybody that I have to be patient, get in the squad first and then in the team after that.”