Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez refuses to guarantee captain John Terry a starting place.

Benitez has appeared to confirm that Terry will have to fight for his place with David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill for the rest of the season.

He said: "John Terry is an important player for us. The question with John is he's coming back from injury and we have to manage his fitness.

"Some games he can play and some days he will not be 100 per cent. If you ask him he will say 'yes' because every player says they're fine but we have to manage it. We have four centre-backs and we can play any of them.

"He's training but match fitness and training are two different things. How does he take it when he's left out? Fine, he knows we have more competition and that's good for the team."