Terry speaks up for Chelsea

By Luke Nicoli

England defender John Terry believes the progress of Manchester United FC, Arsenal FC and his club, Chelsea FC, into the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, is a fair reflection of the standard of football now played in the Premiership.

Top spots
All three clubs finished top of their respective qualifying groups and with the tournament entering the first knockout round in February, the 23-year-old believes that the English representatives have a real chance of going far in the competition.

English strength
"I'm pleased to see Manchester United and Arsenal join us in the knockout stages of the tournament - it's another feather in the cap for English football," he told uefa.com. "I don't think there's any doubt now that we have one of the strongest, most exciting leagues in the world and the progress of our teams proves that. Although there is a long way to go in the competition, I'm sure all three of us will have our sights on the latter stages."

Hardest tie
Chelsea have, arguably, the most difficult tie of the three teams against Bundesliga frontrunners VfB Stuttgart, and Terry is adamant this will be the club's stiffest challenge yet. "To draw Stuttgart is going to be a really hard couple of games," he said. "We all know the strengths of German football and when it comes to the big games, they usually put in very good performances.

Mental strength
"With the first leg in Germany, we know it's important to come away with a positive result but we'll draw great inspiration from our form in the opening group stage. To go to places like [S.S.] Lazio and [AC] Sparta [Praha] and win says a lot for the skill and mental strength of the team. We'll need to adopt the same approach against the Germans."

Mid-season blip
Chelsea will certainly need to step up a gear after a month of disappointing domestic results. They have taken just one victory from their past six matches, including league defeats against Bolton Wanderers FC and Charlton Athletic FC, but Terry insists it is a minor blip.

Changing fortunes
"It's quite funny because when we beat Manchester United we are championship favourites and then when we lose to Bolton we're maybes or also-rans - and this is in the same month," said Terry. "That's why it's important to just keep our heads down and not get caught up in all the hype. We know we have quality in our side and to be challenging for the championship is a fair reflection of the strides we're making."

Growing status
Terry is also making plenty of progress himself. While owner Roman Abramovich has bought in a huge number of players during the course of his first season in charge, Terry has kept his place in the starting lineup at Stamford Bridge, captaining the side in Marcel Desailly's absence. The former England Under-21 captain is also now a regular feature in Sven-Göran Eriksson's senior side.

Anglo-French relations
And with UEFA EURO 2004™ fast approaching, it is set to be a busy year for the Londoner and one match, in particular, has already caught his eye. "England versus France has had us all talking at Chelsea," he said. "The likes of Marcel [Desailly], William Gallas and Emmanuel Petit have been talking up France's chances but we've got a number of England internationals at the club who have been giving them some stick back!"