Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas denies John Terry's race row influenced their 5-3 defeat to Arsenal yesterday.

Terry, and centre-half partner Branislav Ivanovic, looked vulnerable throughout the derby, but Villas-Boas denied the FA investigation had affected the performance of his team or their captain in any way.

"Has the situation affected John? No, not at all," Villas-Boas said.

"It hasn't distracted him at all, I don't think.

"For me, it was never a situation. It's a misunderstanding.

"It's an FA investigation, so let them investigate.

"This is just defeat for a team, a very important defeat and nothing else."