John Terry ruled out for Chelsea in week of court case

JOHN Terry was last night ruled out of Chelsea’s Barclays Premier League game at Swansea in the week the court case begins into allegations he racially abused Anton Ferdinand.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas announced Terry would not travel to the Liberty Stadium tonight after aggravating an injury to his right knee first suffered in this month’s FA Cup win over Portsmouth. The Swansea match takes place less than 24 hours before proceedings begin at Westminster Magistrates Court over whether Terry used a racist slur against QPR defender Ferdinand back in October, a charge he denies.

Chelsea insisted the decision not to risk Terry tomorrow was purely on medical grounds after he played through the pain in Saturday’s fourth-round cup win at Rangers, a match the defender was determined not to miss.

Terry has been suffering with fluid in the knee since colliding with a post during the 8 January third-round victory against Portsmouth but is expected to be fit for Sunday’s league clash with Manchester United.

Villas-Boas told Chelsea TV: “It’s just a bone oedema that he has been carrying for some time since he collided with a post. This stops him a little bit. It’s nothing serious but something to keep an eye on. He should be okay for Man United.”

Terry’s absence will almost certainly see a debut for January signing Gary Cahill alongside David Luiz. Petr Cech looks certain to captain the side, with Villas-Boas confirming Frank Lampard was not quite ready to return from the calf problem that ruled him out on Saturday.

He said: “Frank’s rehabilitation is going well. We are trying to reintroduce him gradually to the first-team activities. Frank felt that it was still a little bit soon to come back and went on to work with the physios, so hopefully after Swansea we will get him ready for the Man United game.”

Terry’s absence breaks up the centre-back partnership that has been together for the whole of the last seven matches. Chelsea were beginning to reap the benefits of that stability, keeping four successive clean sheets for the first time this season.

By not travelling to Swansea, Terry misses out on what would have been a welcome handshake from every member of the Swansea team, something he was denied at Loftus Road on Saturday. That could also be a problem before Sunday’s match against United if Rio Ferdinand were to start at Stamford Bridge.

Reports suggest Ferdinand is prepared to shake Terry’s hand, something younger brother Anton was apparently not prepared to do this weekend.

Chelsea have a chance to dent United’s title bid on Sunday but, having declared his own side out of the championship equation, Villas-Boas is more interested in cutting the five-point gap to third-placed Tottenham, starting tonight.