Chelsea assistant manager Eddie Newton insisted it was the decision of John Terry to play in the League Cup encounter against Wolverhampton Wanderers, despite an ongoing investigation by the FA.
Chelsea strolled to a 6-0 victory with Gary Cahill, Ryan Bertrand, Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu, Fernando Torres, and Victor Moses getting on the scoresheet. However, all eyes were on Terry, who could face serious sanctions from the FA if found guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.
"Yes, we've been talking with John and what his mindset is and he's been very positive and he wanted to play and do what he usually does for the team, so there was no problem with that selection," Newton told reporters.
"From my understanding of knowing John, he's a positive person and he loves the club and he's very enthusiastic about playing, just as he was as a young man.
"He's been fine (the last couple of days), he's been dealing with the situation at hand and coming in and doing what he has to do at the club, and me and Robbie (Roberto Di Matteo) have been talking to him and he's been very upbeat, so there wasn't a problem picking him.
"We wanted John to start, obviously everything that's happening with the FA, we wanted to see how it panned out. We got a phone call as he was making his way back from the FA early, so it wasn't last-minute, so it was an easy selection process, we'd covered all the bases, all the scenario's that could have happened."
Terry recently retired from the international game, citing the charges as a major reason for his decision, and while it was met with disappointment by England manager Roy Hodgson, Newton admitted it was bound to happen sooner or later.
"Well that's like all professionals, the commitment of playing for both your club and your country is hard, it's hard physically and the older you get the more demanding it becomes on your body," he said.
"And if you really want to keep playing at the top level for as long as possible, at some point you're going to have to make a decision."
Asked if Terry would also feature in the game against Arsenal on Saturday, having played the full 90 minutes against Wolves, Newton said: "It's not difficult. We prepare as we always do and it's just a matter of making sure we cover all our bases as we did for today. Then however the scenario pans out we are able to deal with it.
"The fact of the matter is he has a lot of minutes under his belt already. It's very positive that he played another 90 today, and there are ways and means around it.
"We are in constant contact with John and will deal with the situation, the medical team, the fitness coaches, technical staff, making sure we can get around John and that he is prepared in the best way possible, as we always do."
