Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho revealed captain John Terry will be back to face Liverpool on Sunday after sitting out the hard-fought 2-1 win at Reading.
The Royals took the lead through substitute Andre Bikey when Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech made an uncharacteristic error on the half-hour, but goals from Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba within five minutes of the restart gave Chelsea all three points.
Mourinho gambled on a double substitution at half-time after watching his side toil.
He had already lost Ricardo Carvalho in the first half with a knee injury and he replaced former Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell and full-back Paulo Ferreira at half-time.
The introductions of Mikel John Obi and Claudio Pizarro changed the emphasis of the game and within five minutes Lampard and Drogba had turned it round.
But while Mourinho lost central defender Carvalho, he was also boosted by the return of Terry for Sunday's game against their title rivals.
Mourinho said after the Reading game: "I think I am going to be without Ricardo for a while but John Terry is back.
"I lose one central defender but I win another one. John was back in training with no limitations. He trained for one-and-a-half hours with the reserves in a very competitive situation.
"He could have played tonight but I wanted to protect him. He is ready for the next game so Steve McClaren can drink some champagne tonight after that information."
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