John Terry Passed Fit As Chelsea Sweat on Cole Scans

While he awaits news on a potentially season-ending injury to Ashley Cole, the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has, at least, been the beneficiary of some good news today.

His skipper John Terry, who has been out since December 13 with a back injury that required surgery and then with a calf problem, has been declared fit to return for his side's Premiership trip to The Valley on Saturday.

"John Terry is an important player for us. We've missed him and he's been out for a long, long time," said Mourinho, who would only confirm that Terry would feature in his squad for the London derby. "It's important he's back, especially in a period when we keep losing players.We lose some players, we then gain some players and it's important he's available."

In the meantime, Mourinho is still sweating on the results of scans on Cole's knee-ligament injury, after he was carried off during the second half of their 3-0 victory over Blackburn at Stamford Bridge last night. "There is no news on Cole yet," he added. "He will have his scan and at this moment it doesn't look very good. We have to wait. That's all we can do at the moment."

But, in Wayne Bridge, Chelsea do have a natural and gifted replacement - and one who, arguably, has played better than Cole this season. "We have Wayne Bridge who is playing a lot and playing well," said Mourinho. "But it means I have less options. Because we have no wingers, Bridge is a player I could have used as an outside left. So in this moment I have only one left-back.We are doing so many things to have a team to compete in all competitions and we must compete without Ashley. Khalid Boulahrouz will train with the group for the first time on Thursday and maybe in one more week he can play."