Grant bides his time over selection

Grant is agonising over whether to recall captain John Terry and midfielder Frank Lampard. Both players were absent when Chelsea clinched a place in the final and while Grant says it is not his intention to punish them for being injured, he accepts there is a case of rewarding those who got them to Wembley.

"I think always about the next game," admitted Grant. "John and Frank were injured but I don't intend to punish any player that wants to play. They both wanted to play every game, even every training game, but they were injured. I am not going to punish them for that or because other players played very good."

He added: "Rewarding players is not the main thing but I am thinking about that. It is not an easy decision.

"I prefer to think about the players who play. I will always be asked about the players who are not playing.

"John is a great captain even when he is not playing. He had a big influence on Tuesday when he was not playing. He is also a great defender but I think the other two defenders did a great job up until now so it is not an easy decision.

"It is not an easy decision because Alex and Ricardo Carvalho were very good. John, before his injury, was excellent and in training is very good, so it is a very hard decision.

"We have training tomorrow. When you have big players in a team like Chelsea it is always a difficult decision. It was not an easy decision on Tuesday.

"But also it was not a good situation when they were out, I think it was worse. Always there is a situation that is not easy but this is my life and I like it.

"I don't think players are computers, you need to respect them but I have to take a decision that is good for the club - long and short term."