Race on to Get Terry Fit After Back Operation

John Terry underwent surgery yesterday to remove a slipped disc from his spinal column. The procedure was deemed successful but Chelsea's hope that their captain will return to action within weeks was contradicted by medical opinion suggesting he should remain out of the game for up to three months.

The operation was carried out by Dr Jean Destandau, recognised as Europe's leading orthopaedic spinal surgery specialist, at his clinic in the south-west of France. Destandau, whose keyhole technique is understood to expedite recovery times by many weeks, removed a sequestrated lumbar intervertebral disc.

Surgery became necessary after the spongey disc herniated and dislodged, pressing into Terry's spinal column, put-ting him in agony and causing sciatic pain in his calf. Destandau cut away the disc and Terry was last night expected to be back on his feet within hours of the laser-assisted surgery being completed.

Although there was delight last night that Terry's procedure had passed without a hitch, Chelsea will now want to get the England captain fit in time for the difficult trip to Liverpool on January 20. However, one consultant orthopaedic surgeon stated last night that Terry might be risking his long-term health if he rushes back to Premiership action.

"Sportsmen are a difficult bunch to deal with because they want to go back to their occupation as soon as the anaesthetic's worn off," said the surgeon. "Common sense says that good healing tissue takes a minimum of six weeks to develop. If you push your luck coming back in any less than that time you're asking for trouble.

"Plenty of people do push their luck and get away with it. If I owned him I'd keep him on very light training for three months. Certainly a minimum of six weeks but preferably three months - get him match fit in three months' time to make the end of the season."

Chelsea are chasing Manchester United at the top of the Premiership and Terry and his manager, Jose Mourinho, are unlikely to settle with that prognosis. Forthcoming matches could prove critical to Chelsea's ambitions of landing a third successive Premiership title.

Liverpool are unbeaten at Anfield and have conceded only three goals in 10 home matches, scoring 20. Terry's last match coincided with Chelsea's last Premiership clean sheet, the 1-0 win against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge. In the three fixtures since, without their captain to act as last outfield defender and leader, Chelsea have conceded six goals and fielded three different centre-back pairings.

So pivotal is the Liverpool fixture that Chelsea are expected to make a move to bolster their defence when the transfer window opens next month. Though there have not yet been definitive negotiations, Chelsea have shown signs that they feel now is the time to invest a sum approaching £20m in Manchester City's England international defender Micah Richards.

Mourinho has even countenanced using Didier Drogba as a stop-gap centre-half. But the Premiership's leading scorer said: "I do not like to play at centre-back - but I do it for the team because sometimes we have difficult moments in the game."

Drogba added that he feels recent results have diminished the psychological hold the all-conquering champions of the past two years have had over opposition. "It is something we have to think about," he said. "We cannot give the other teams the belief they can score, that they can win. Last season, and also two years ago, we were very strong when we scored one goal and the other teams could not think about coming back into the game."