John Terry may be ready to play against Stoke City this weekend

John Terry has been out for quite a while, but it appears that the center back is getting close to making his return to the Chelsea first team. Reports are suggesting that Terry may take part n the club's U21 fixture on Thursday, with quotes attributed to Rafa Benitez:

"John Terry has been training and we are considering playing him on Thursday with the under-21 team. The good thing he is now training so now he can carry on. We will see how he feels on Thursday and hopefully he can play more minutes in the short-term so we will see."

"At least that is a positive thing because before he was just doing the warm-up. Now he is training and can play so I think we are obviously closer."

If Terry does indeed take part against Fulham's U21 side on Thursday, he'd seem unlikely at best to start on the weekend. I'd imagine he'd be back on the bench though, and Rafa may even give him some minutes if the situation allows it. It will certainly be nice to have him back, as the club is currently using all of it's centerbacks in basically every game.

Those of you interested in seeing the U21 game on Thursday are in luck, as Chelsea TV is airing the game live. They have been doing an awful job of covering the U18 and U21 squads this season, so it's nice to see them airing the matches again. We will likely have an open thread for that game.