Terry still the man at Chelsea, insists Mourinho

Jose Mourinho insists he has no issue with John Terry despite benching his captain for Chelsea's 2-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday.

Terry played every minute for the Blues in the Premier League last season but was dropped in favour of Kurt Zouma for the visit of the Gunners a matter of weeks after being substituted for the young Frenchman at half-time away to Manchester City.

Zouma was imperious against Arsenal, scoring Chelsea's crucial first goal and minimising the threat of Theo Walcott as Mourinho's men kick-started their Premier League title defence.

The 20-year-old's performance - combined with Mourinho's recent treatment of Terry - raised questions about the captain's long-term future at Stamford Bridge, but his manager is adamant any such suggestions are nonsense.

John Terry doesn’t need me to speak with him because he knows what I feel and think. He knows he’s my man.

If I have to choose one of 25 to be my man he’s the first. He knows I care about him as a player and a person. He knows my decision had only one intention, which was to help my team win the match.

I thought Arsenal would come to play a defensive game, with a very fast striker who gets behind people.

If we didn’t need to win the game so much we probably would have kept our block lower and more compact, but because we desperately needed a victory we couldn’t wait, we had to bring our defensive line up.

Playing against Walcott the best player we have is Zouma. John knows how I think and if he’s normally a great captain, today he was even better.

If every player had lots of respect for him, the way he’s reacted in the last days to this situation, he has even more respect from the players.

If you want to paint a dark picture, I ask you please don’t because it’s not the reality. He’s in great condition and a great situation with the manager and club.