Terry well enough for Blues start

Captain John Terry was included in the Chelsea line-up after recovering sufficiently from a knee injury to play against the Barclays Premiership’s bottom club at Stamford Bridge.

Terry missed both England World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Northern Ireland after sustaining the knock in the victory at Tottenham two weeks ago.

But Chelsea were without Claude Makelele, who was injured on international duty with France and Jose Mourinho opted to include Eidur Gudjohnsen in a midfield role alongside Frank Lampard and Michael Essien.

Geremi was given a starting role at right-back with Paulo Ferreira rested ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Anderlecht, Hernan Crespo was preferred to Didier Drogba in attack and Shaun Wright-Phillips replaced Damien Duff.

Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy gave debuts to on-loan Arsenal defender Justin Hoyte and midfielder Christian Bassila, while relying on Jon Stead and Stephen Elliott to provide the firepower in attack.

Chelsea: Cech, Geremi, Gallas, Terry, Del Horno, Essien, Wright-Phillips, Lampard, Gudjohnsen, Robben, Crespo. Subs: Ricardo Carvalho, Joe Cole, Duff, Drogba, Cudicini.

Sunderland: Davis, Nosworthy, Breen, Stubbs, Hoyte, Bassila, Elliott, Whitehead, Miller, Arca, Stead. Subs: Robinson, Welsh, Alnwick, Le Tallec, Gray.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral)