Avram Grant has urged Fabio Capello to keep faith with John Terry as captain as he believes England have 'missed his leadership'.Capello is set to name his squad for next week's friendly with France on Thursday and the Chelsea coach is adamant that Terry is the only man for the captain's armband.

Terry is almost certain to be included in Capello's squad after recovering from the fractured foot which kept him out of action for two months - including the Italian's first match in charge against Switzerland.

And Grant believes that his inspirational leadership qualities make him the outstanding choice.

"England needs him more than he needs England," said Grant. "It's not my decision on the captaincy - I'm not objective.

"Steven Gerrard is one of my favourite players, but I saw JT as a captain here.

"In football, there are good and bad days. You saw the leadership of JT when we needed him.

"I don't see why we need to see differently in terms of the captaincy. You saw how they missed him against Croatia. Look at his leadership.

"A captain like him you will not find every day. If he'd played against Croatia, England, in my opinion, would be in the European Championship.

"There were so many difficult moments in that game, and in those moments you see the leaders."

Grant believes Terry is the perfect candidate to unite the squad, management and supporters after the failure to reach Euro 2008.

"He's a great leader, so England don't need to change him. He understands very quickly what I believe. In football, the players need to be loyal to the fans because they were here before any player or manager and will stay after them, and he's loyal to the club," the Israeli said.

"They pay the money and give you the opportunity. He respects the management. Look at (Zinedine) Zidane. He was always loyal to the club that he played for.

"JT, in very difficult moments when some people were confused a little bit, he showed his loyalty to the club.

"It's not easy to come back from long-term injury, but he's come back very good like all of our injured players.

"Not only because he scored our goal at Sunderland, but because he played very well. He's having one of his best seasons at this club."

Chelsea face Tottenham on Wednesday night in a crucial League encounter that could see the Blues go level on points with Arsenal and Manchester United at the top.

Grant's side will also be looking to avenge their Carling Cup defeat by Spurs at Wembley, although the Chelsea coach insists it is just another big test for his squad.

He added: "We are expected to beat teams like Derby and Sunderland.

"When you win against Tottenham in the league, it's reasonable. When we lose against them in the Carling Cup, it's a big match. I accept that's our life. I'm sure that if we win it'll be reasonable. If we lose, it's a big match.

"The big test of the team was playing without all the players. You saw what happened last year when we had to do that. People said it was a crisis.

"We showed the strength of the team in December and January when we played without our big players. Every game is a test at a big club.

"I was disappointed that we lost the Carling Cup, even though we were the only club of the big four to get to the final. But all that belongs in the past.

"It's one more bad day in the life of a team. I don't think I made mistakes in my selection. We came with a very strong team."

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