Blues fear Terry absence
05 Aug 2007 - 18:07:18
Chelsea are likely to be without John Terry for the next month after the England international was forced to miss Sunday's Community Shield defeat to Manchester United after picking up a knee injury.
The 26-year-old was joined on the sidelines by Didier Drogba as the Blues lost at Wembley 3-0 in a penalty shoot-out after the two sides had shared two goals in the 90 minutes.
Terry could also miss England's friendly with Germany on 22 August and the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia in September.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho remains upbeat about his side's chances in the new campaign though, despite the current injury concerns.
"I'm very happy with the players," he said.
"We only knew last night we had to play this team and this strategy so I think they did very well.
"We controlled the game against the champions so why should we be afraid of the future?
"I don't think they deserved to lose on penalties - but that's football.
"The season starts on Saturday and we didn't lose the game itself, we are not at a lower level than the opposition.
"We showed we have a great group of boys fighting and working together."