Terry out for Community Shield

England captain John Terry is a surprise absentee from the Chelsea line-up for today's FA Community Shield clash with Manchester United at Wembley.

There was no pre-match indication from Chelsea their captain was struggling for fitness - but reports have emerged that Terry faces up to a month on the sidelines with a knee injury.

If this is confirmed Terry would be likely to miss England's friendly against Germany later this month and possibly the crucial European Championship qualifiers against Israel and Russia next month.

Frank Lampard is included in the side despite suffering a broken toe on the recent tour of America and took over as captain.

There is also no place in the starting 11 for main striker Didier Drogba, presumably rested by Jose Mourinho.

New arrival Florent Malouda is expected to lead the attack supported by Shaun-Wright Phillips and Joe Cole.

In Terry's absence, summer signing Tal Ben Haim starts in the centre of defence alongside Ricardo Carvalho.

The only change Alex Ferguson made to the Manchester United side defeated by Inter Milan on Wednesday is the inclusion of French defender Mikael Silvestre for Chris Eagles.

With Anderson suffering a slight hamstring strain at Doncaster on Friday and Owen Hargreaves completing his first 45 minutes as United played at Peterborough yesterday, the only new signing involved for the Red Devils was Nani, who is named on the bench.

Chelsea: Cech, Johnson, Carvalho, Ben Haim, Ashley Cole, Wright-Phillips, Essien, Mikel, Lampard, Malouda, Joe Cole.

Subs: Cudicini, Hilario, Sidwell, Pizarro, Sinclair, Diarra, Worley.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, O’Shea, Silvestre, Giggs, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Nani, Pique, Fletcher, Bardsley, Martin, Eagles.

Referee: M Halsey (Lancashire).