Ben Haim hails defence

Israel international Ben Haim stood in for the England captain alongside Ricardo Carvalho at the heart of the defence during the FA Community Shield against Manchester United, and has every faith the rest of the backline can pull together ahead of the new season.

"Of course John Terry is a fantastic player. He helped me to settle in here," said Ben Haim. "The defenders can see everything from the back, so of course we need to speak and communicate with the team. But it is not only me speaking, also the whole of the back four have to communicate and it is our job to do that from the back because we see everything."

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has his share of injury problems ahead of the Barclays Premier League opener against Birmingham this weekend.

Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba - Chelsea's main goal threat - also missed the Wembley date because of a minor knee problem, which should clear up within 10 days.

Nevertheless, with Salomon Kalou, Andriy Shevchenko, Claude Makelele, Michael Ballack, Wayne Bride and Claudio Pizarro all struggling to be fit, not to mention both Glen Johnson and Florent Malouda picking up knocks at Wembley.

Frank Lampard has been playing through the pain barrier after breaking a toe during the tour of the United States. The England midfielder, however, maintains Chelsea cannot moan about not having their first-choice XI available.

"We are all upset if we have got major players who are not playing - but you cannot cry about it, you just have to deal with it," he said.

"In terms of injuries, we are not in the best of shape. There are quite a few people in the treatment room, which is not ideal. But we are calling on a bit of character early.

"We have got a strong team with a lot of personalities and have a lot of experience from years gone by. The players we have brought in also have experience, so we can go into the season with confidence."