Fulham v Chelsea:CHELSEA MANAGER Carlo Ancelotti has warned John Terry he should no longer expect to play in every match.

Ancelotti will use tonight’s Premier League derby at Fulham to hand a first start to January recruit David Luiz and confirmed the Brazilian’s arrival signals a shift to an era in which all of the defenders at Stamford Bridge must get accustomed to stints on the sidelines.

Terry has been a mainstay of the Chelsea defence for the past nine seasons and has been implicitly guaranteed a starting place ever since Jose Mourinho made him club captain in 2004.

Ancelotti insisted the 30-year-old must accept that with David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic and Alex competing for his spot he will occasionally have to endure being a spectator.

“With David Luiz we can have more rotation with our players,” said Ancelotti. “In the back four now we have a lot of opportunity to choose a player to give someone a rest and to maintain every player fit for the rest of the season.”

He did not confirm whether David Luiz would be used as a centre-back or full-back tonight.

Although Chelsea have conceded fewer goals than any team in the Premier League they have, paradoxically, looked more vulnerable than they have for years.

That is not simply down to defensive deficiencies – every sector of the team has malfunctioned, which is why Chelsea find themselves needing a victory at Fulham to clamber back into the last Champions League qualifying spot.

But Ancelotti has indicated he sought David Luiz both to bring additional solidity to the defence and to lend a new dimension to the team, his capacity to create from the back being superior to that of any of the club’s other centre-backs.

“Everyone knows that in the top teams there is competitions for places, that is normal,” said Ancelotti. “It is good motivation for everyone.”

Guardian Service