Terry may be benched against Southampton, hints Conte

John Terry

Southampton: Antonio Conte has hinted Chelsea captain John Terry could be sent back to the bench for Sunday's EPL trip to Southampton.

Terry's return to action in Chelsea's midweek League Cup defeat to West Ham didn't go according to plan as the centre-back struggled in his first appearance after six weeks on the sidelines with an ankle injury. After three successive league wins without conceding a goal, Chelsea lost 2-1 to the Hammers and an error-strewn Terry in Conte's favoured three-man defence is unlikely to have persuaded the Italian to keep him in the starting line-up this weekend.

The back three system is alien to Terry, who thrived in a four-man defence for much of his career, and the 35-year-old was beaten in the air by Cheikhou Kouyate for West Ham's first goal. Conte then switched Terry from the centre to the left at half-time. That leaves Terry as a potential casualty if the Blues boss recalls Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses to the wing-back roles and restores Cesar Azpilicueta to central defence.

Conte said: "It's logical that John came back from injury and it's not easy to restart and to find quickly the right shape. John is an important player for us, if he plays, if he doesn't play, for the changing room, for his teammates, for the club. The team is important, and an individual."