Avram Grant admits Frank Lampard and John Terry are not automatic selections ahead of Sunday's Carling Cup final with Tottenham at Wembley.

The Chelsea manager is agonising over whether to recall the duo after controversially leaving them out of Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Olympiacos in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Terry has played just once since recovering from a broken foot, while Lampard has only started twice since he shook off a troublesome thigh problem he picked up in the 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on Boxing Day.

However, Grant admits he has not decided whether to recall the England internationals.

"I think always about the next game,” he said. “John and Frank were injured but I don't intend to punish any player that wants to play.

"John is a great captain even when he is not playing,” he added. “He had a big influence on Tuesday when he was not playing. He is also a great defender but I think the other two defenders did a great job up until now so it is not an easy decision.

"It is not an easy decision because Alex and Ricardo Carvalho were very good. John, before his injury, was excellent and in training is very good, so it is a very hard decision.”

Both players were absent when Chelsea clinched a place in the final and while Grant says it is not his intention to punish them for being injured, although he accepts there is a case of rewarding those who got them to Wembley.

"Rewarding players is not the main thing but I am thinking about that. It is not an easy decision. I prefer to think about the players who play. I will always be asked about the players who are not playing.

"We have training tomorrow. When you have big players in a team like Chelsea it is always a difficult decision. It was not an easy decision on Tuesday.”

He added: "I am the boss and the boss needs to see what is good for the club. To take over Chelsea in the middle of the year is not like taking over other clubs. Chelsea always want to succeed."

Grant, who replaced Jose Mourinho as manager in September, has suffered just two defeats, against Arsenal and Manchester United, since taking over at Stamford Bridge.

But the Israeli says he does not feel under pressure to land his first trophy in order to banish the memory of Mourinho's achievements.

"We don't need to kill the ghost of Jose Mourinho because he did a good job," said Grant.

"We want to win anyway because we are in a cup final. I feel good with what we have done - we have won a lot of games and done it in the right way. But I am a person who always wants better.

"On Sunday, it is not me that I need to worry about. It is good for the club and the players to win games. Every big club wants to win all the trophies, it has not happened before. It is important to the club and the fans, you don't go to Wembley not to win games.

Like Grant, Juande Ramos, the Tottenham manager, took over the club midway through the season, and the Chelsea manager admits he is full of admiration for his adversary.

"They play good football and it is not easy to play against them. The coach before did a good job but this season Tottenham were not so good,” he said.

"I think Juande is a great coach and a great person. I know him personally. He has a lot of knowledge about football and in my opinion he has been a big success in Tottenham so far."