• Terry had problem since FA Cup win against Portsmouth
• Gary Cahill set for full debut in Chelsea defence

John Terry will miss Chelsea’s Premier League match at Swansea City on Tuesday as he undergoes treatment on a knee injury originally sustained in the FA Cup third-round tie against Portsmouth.

The England captain has featured three times since hitting one of the posts in his team’s 4-0 success against the Championship side but the bruising on the joint has continued to discomfort the centre-half. Chelsea’s medical staff have confirmed fluid on the knee, prompting the 31-year-old to be omitted from the London side’s squad with Sunday’s visit of Manchester United in mind.

The England captain had not been expected to attend a hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday, when he will face charges for an alleged racially aggravated public order offence relating to an altercation with the Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during the west London derby on 24 October. That plan is understood not to have changed, with Terry’s legal counsel to enter a plea of not guilty to the court in his absence.

His omission from the squad for the Swansea game is a blow for André Villas-Boas, who is also without the injured Ramires (knee), Frank Lampard (calf) and John Mikel Obi (hamstring) for the game at the Liberty Stadium. Terry might have been rested for Saturday’s fourth-round FA Cup tie at QPR but was keen to feature in the derby. Gary Cahill, the £7m signing from Bolton Wanderers, will make his Chelsea debut in place of the regular captain and alongside David Luiz against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

“It’s just a bone oedema [swelling] that John has been carrying for some time since he collided with a post, if I am not wrong, against Portsmouth and this stops him a little bit,” said Villas-Boas. “It’s nothing serious but something to keep an eye on. He has had an MRI before and he should be OK for Manchester United. We have a lot of positions covered of course because of our squad, we have Gary and David available and competing and hopefully we can make the right decision.”

Chelsea hope to have Ramires, who suffered medial ligament damage in his right knee at Loftus Road on Saturday, back in contention in around four weeks’ time, potentially ahead of the Champions League knockout tie against Napoli. “It’s unfortunate for the team,” added Villas-Boas on Chelsea TV. “Ramires is one of the most used players of the team with excellent individual performance and always helping the team to get results.

“With what could have happened, it’s just good news that he will be out for a short amount of time. Hopefully he will be available for the Napoli game, and hopefully before. On another front, Mikel will be out of the game and Lampard is still out of the game. Frank’s rehabilitation is going well, we are trying to reintroduce him gradually to the first-team activities. Frank felt that it was still a little bit soon to come back and went on to work with the physios, so hopefully after Swansea we will get him ready for the United game.”

John TerryChelseaSwansea CityDominic Fifield
guardian.co.uk

John Terry and Anton Ferdinand had quiet games in their first meeting of Chelsea and QPR since the allegations emerged

In the end there was no handshake on offer and none to be accepted. There was no pre-match lineup at which opposing centre-halves could eyeball each other, and no penalty area wrestling or even skull-juddering aerial challenges as the pair went head to head. In fact, there was barely any contact at all between Anton Ferdinand and John Terry. Rivals caught up in the depressing fallout from October’s derby merely busied themselves in their own lonely duties as the storm raged all around them at Loftus Road.

This had felt like an incendiary occasion. Collisions between these clubs are traditionally spiky but the legacy of their last meeting, on 23 October, had inflamed the build-up to this rematch. Terry’s legal counsel will deliver a plea of not guilty at West London magistrates court on Wednesday, when the England captain faces a charge of committing a racially aggravated public order offence in an altercation with Ferdinand during the hosts’ 1-0 win here three months ago. The QPR defender has endured death threats since, with a package containing a letter and a spent cartridge sent to Loftus Road for his attention 24 hours before this contest.

That was a dismal backdrop to which this fixture was played. Football felt like an afterthought, an irrelevance while insanity set in all around. That both Ferdinand and Terry, who has consistently and vehemently denied directing the comments at his opposite number, offered such cool, calm professionalism in the face of provocation was admirable. This was a scruffy, unappealing game but both defenders emerged with credit for maintaining their focus. André Villas‑Boas described Terry as “excellent”; Mark Hughes his own centre-back as “tremendous”. There was relief to be had that neither needed to collide in direct confrontation.

The decision to abandon the pre‑match handshake felt sensible, even if it effectively meant the Football Association suspending their Respect campaign in an effort to maintain some level of respect. As childish as the whole formality can appear, it had felt an unnecessary distraction here. Talks had been held at each club over the preceding 24 hours, and with the FA, once it became clear Ferdinand was not inclined to accept Terry’s hand and that QPR’s players were anxious to deliver a show of solidarity with their team-mate. Had the hosts all blanked the visiting captain as players drifted down the line, any sense of acute embarrassment might have been lost amid the fury descending from the stands. The FA confirmed in a statement the desire to “further diffuse [sic] tensions”. The lack of a flash