John Terry believes retaining the Chelsea squad over the summer has given them the edge over their title rivals. "Manchester United have lost Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool have lost Xabi Alonso and Arsenal have lost Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure," he said.

"We have re-signed Didier, which is massive. He's just brilliant and a winner and that has been important to Chelsea.

"Malouda and Mikel have also re-signed. Flo had a great second half to last season and has started this time where he left off.

"The hunger among the boys this year to win the Premier League is as strong as ever.

"We want that and the Champions League and, with our squad being held together, there are plenty of reasons for optimism."