Chelsea's captain John Terry is closing in on a return and may be involved at Stoke this weekend. The 32-year-old defender has not featured for the Blues since the 1-1 draw with Liverpool on 11 November, when he collided with Luis Suárez.

Terry had been expected to be out for three weeks but is only now looks close to a comeback two months on. The centre-half is due to face Fulham with the under-21 team on Thursday evening, which Rafael Benítez feels could see him return to the first team on Saturday.

"John Terry has been training and we are considering playing him on Thursday with the under-21 team," the manager said. "The good thing he is now training so now he can carry on. We will see how he feels on Thursday and hopefully he can play more minutes in the short-term so we will see.

"At least that is a positive thing because before he was just doing the warm-up. Now he is training and can play so I think we are obviously closer."

Asked if he could be involved against Stoke, he added: "It depends on his reaction. Obviously Thursday will be a different kind of game but we will see how he feels. If he can feel OK and train the day after, at least we can start considering him as an option."