Chelsea right to keep Terry as captain, says Di Matteo

LONDON: Roberto Di Matteo has backed the decision of the Chelsea board to allow John Terry to retain the club captaincy despite being found guilty of using racially abusive language.

Terry missed Chelsea’s 4-2 win at Tottenham, which preserved their unbeaten start to the Premier League season and maintained their fourpoint lead at the head of the table, as he started the four-match ban imposed following his clash with QPR’s Anton Ferdinand last October.

But Blues chairman Bruce Buck had revealed before the game that the club’s internal punishment of Terry would extend only to a “very heavy fine” and not see the player stripped of the captaincy.

And Di Matteo endorsed the move whilst insisting the decision lay with the board.

“The board made a decision and I respect the board’s decision and I support that decision,” he said. “Ultimately they are the board and they make the decisions in the best interests of the club. I have an input and we had conversations, but they decide.”

Gary Cahill, drafted in at centreback as Terry’s replacement and scorer of his side’s first goal, insisted his team-mate has the full backing of the Blues squad.

“It’s fantastic. We didn’t expect any other outcome,” Cahill said. “He’s been the captain for many years and long may it continue. We’re happy with that.”

Cahill’s comments were reinforced by Juan Mata – scorer of two goals against Spurs on Saturday – who said: “Formehe is a great teammate and we are always happy to share our training sessions and games with him.”

Chelsea responded well after another testing week, recovering after second half goals from William Gallas and Jermain Defoe had overturned Cahill’s opener.

Mata scoredtwice andDaniel Sturridge added the fourthas Chelsea preventedformer manager Andre Villas-Boas from gaining revenge on the club that sacked him in March after just nine months in charge.

Villas-Boas admitted Chelsea had been the stronger side, citing the contributions of Mata, Eden Hazardand Oscaras the difference between the teams as Tottenham suffered their first defeat since the opening day of the season.

And the Spurs manager believes his former club are currently showing the kind of form that makes them genuine title contenders.

“The game turned on individual brilliance from Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar who were brilliant,” Villas-Boas said.

“These players can unlockdoors, they can find gaps and beat people.

“On the positive side we have shown great strength of character to come back at the start of the second half.

“Chelsea are in the kind of form we saw last year with Manchester City.

“In the end Manchester United caught them up a little bit towards the end until the last minute of the last day of the season. So you never know what can happen.

“There are ups and downs in the Premier League, but they have gone to Arsenal and won, they have come here and won. Surely at the moment they are at the top of their game.”