JOHN TERRY BACK TO PLUG GAP

John Terry will be fit and available to face Liverpool on Sunday.

That was the piece of good news that softened the blow for José Mourinho of losing Ricardo Carvalho to injury at Reading.

The Portuguese international walked off in the 30th minute of Wednesday night's 2-1 win to be replaced by Glen Johnson.

'Of course I want to have every player and all options available to me. I think I am going to lose Ricardo for a while but at the same time John is back.' said Mourinho after the game without specifying the exact nature of the Carvalho problem.

'You lose a central defender but you win another central defender. Also Tal [Ben-Haim] is playing very well and is quite confident.'

New signing Alex is by the player's own admission a little way from full match condition so Terry's return from a knee ligament strain could not have come too soon.

'John on Wednesday trained with no limitations,' announced Mourinho. 'He trained perfectly for one-and-a half hours with the reserves in a competitive situation and the answer was very good.'Maybe he could have played tonight but I decided to protect him. But he is ready for the weekend and Steve McClaren can drink some champagne tonight after this information.'