Terry injury gives Cahill chance to finally make Chelsea debut

Chelsea look set to get their first glimpse of the future against Swansea as Gary Cahill is set to partner David Luiz in the heart of the defence.

Andre Villas-Boas has slowly been attempting to create his own identity and not rely on the players that had served Jose Mourinho in particular so well previously.

Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda have largely been the first two to spend far more time on the bench than they are used to, while Didier Drogba has spent much of the past month at the African Nations Cup.

Now it is time for Villas-Boas to line up without Terry, who misses the trip to Swansea with a knee injury that has been causing him problems in recent weeks.

The decision is a conservative one given that Chelsea want Terry fit for the crunch Premier League clash with Manchester United on February 5th.

Cahill’s first Premier League game at Bolton resulted in a 2-0 victory over Reading and Chelsea will be hoping for more of the same when visiting Swansea.

It is 17/20 in the Premier League odds that Chelsea beat Swansea and 6/1 that they triumph 2-0, while Cahill is 25/1 to make an instant impact with the opening goal.

With Luiz also being relatively error prone so far this season and Cahill having experience playing alongside Terry for England, the new signing could make himself a first-team regular with a solid display.

However, Chelsea’s task will not be made any easier by the fact that they are all also missing a host of other key faces.

Ramires damaged his right knee in the weekend’s FA Cup success over QPR and will not feature, while the midfield will be further weakened by the absence of John Obi Mikel.

This means that Oriol Romeu is likely to take on holding midfield duties, while there is there the chance that Michael Essien may make a first start of the season.