Jose Mourinho has no doubts that captain John Terry deserves his place in the Chelsea starting lineup after making his 600th appearance for the club against Liverpool on Sunday.
The former England skipper, who has been more involved this term under the Portuguese after seeing limited action last season, was one of the star men as the Blues came from behind to beat Liverpool 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
"Everything he's getting is not because he's my man or because he's my friend or because I respect him from my first period here," Mourinho told reporters. "No, he's getting these minutes because he's playing fantastically well.
"More important than the accumulation of the 600 matches is the fact that he's played every minute of the 19 matches this season. Only him and Petr [Cech], and Petr is the goalie.
"He's the only outfield player to have played 19 times 90 minutes which is amazing for a player that last season lots of people thought he was going down."
Chelsea make the visit to Southampton on New Year's Day.
Matt Cotton
