Avram Grant has urged Fabio Capello to make John Terry the England captain again when the Italian names his squad for next Wednesday's friendly against France. Steven Gerrard was given the captain's armband by Capello in his first game in charge of England, but Grant believes that Terry, who missed last month's 2-1 win against Switzerland with a foot injury, should be reinstated for the trip to Paris.

“I think England need Terry more than he needs England,” the Chelsea first-team coach said. “It's not my decision and I'm not objective but Terry is my captain and he is a great leader.”

Terry was appointed captain by Steve McClaren in 2006 but he was missing last November when a knee injury kept him out of the 3-2 defeat by Croatia that cost McClaren his job and England a place at the European Championship finals in Austria and Switzerland this summer. “You saw what happened against Croatia when Terry didn't play,” Grant said. “If he had played against Croatia, England would be in Euro 2008.”

Terry has not had much to smile about this season. As well as watching from the sidelines as England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, the Chelsea captain had to swallow the bitter pill of losing 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup final last month.

Terry and his team-mates have a chance to set the record straight against Tottenham at White Hart Lane this evening and a victory would take Grant's side level on points with Arsenal, who are second, in the Barclays Premier League, and could even take them level with Manchester United, although the leaders would have to lose at home to Bolton Wanderers tonight for that to happen. A home win against Arsenal on Sunday could then take Chelsea to the top of the table. Not bad for a team who were written off after they were humiliated by Barnsley in the FA Cup 11 days ago.

“I'm disappointed we lost the Carling Cup final but that belongs to the past,” Grant said. “The big test was how we played in January and December when we were missing a lot of players and that is when we showed our strength.”

Despite rumours that Grant will be replaced this summer, his team still have a realistic chance of winning the title and lifting the European Cup, although there are many Chelsea supporters who believe they would have retained the Carling Cup if Michael Ballack and Joe Cole had not been mere substitutes. “We had a very strong team at Wembley,” Grant said. “The selection was good but sometimes the selection is good and the performance is not so good.”

Capello is expected to be at White Hart Lane tonight to run the rule over Terry, but one England hopeful he may not be able to check on is Paul Robinson. The Tottenham goalkeeper is unlikely to start after spraining an ankle in training. Petr Cech will return for Chelsea after recovering from an ankle injury.

Dimitar Berbatov's agent would want to discuss a move away from White Hart Lane for the Tottenham striker should an offer come in this summer. Emil Dantchev said the 27-year-old is happy and that there has been no contact with other clubs, despite suggestions in Italy that AC Milan were preparing a bid. “He is happy but what I know from my 25 years in football is that if a player is happy, it does not mean he cannot be happy somewhere else,” he said.