John Terry no longer guaranteed of place in Chelsea's starting XI

Rafael Benitez has told John Terry that his spot in the first XI is not assured because of his anguish during training and his fitness problems. Even though he was available to play after recovering from a knee injury, he was kept as a substitute and was not used in the Europa League at Sparta Prague.

Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill played as central defense and ever since December, they have recorded consecutive wins.

Benitez was quoted as saying,“He (Terry) had a setback. After he was fine again. He had no reaction in the next training session.It’s a vicious circle: if he cannot play, he cannot improve his match fitness. We have to manage.In the meantime if Cahill and Ivanovic are doing well at least we can keep winning games.”

Terry can still return for the replay of FA Cup fourth-round with Brenton which will be played on Sunday.

Source: London Evening Standard