Chelsea captain John Tery believes Ashley Cole is the best left-back in the world after his winning goal against Stoke City.

The 31 year old netted the winner five minutes from the end at Stamford Bridge to retain The Blues' status at the summit of the Premier League.

And amid rumours the England international has rejected a new one-year contract at Chelsea, Terry has some positive words for Cole.

John Terry
Terry says Cole is the best in his position. Reuters

"Ash is the best left-back in the world," Terry wrote in his programme notes.

"He is so consistent for us week after week, year after year, and pops up with some vital goals."

Terry currently faces an Football Association disciplinary hearing for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand, after confirming his retirement from international football.

The former England captain left the hearing early on Tuesday afternoon in order to appear for Chelsea in their League Cup tie with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With the case continuing late into the week, Terry's participation in Chelsea's league game against Arsenal at the weekend could be thrown into doubt, not least due to his mental state, but assistant boss Eddie Newton says everything will be done to ensure the skipper can play.

"We wanted John to star [against Wolves]," Newton said. "Obviously, with everything happening with the FA, we had to see how it panned out.

"We had a phone call he was making his way back from the FA nice and early so it wasn't 'last minute dot com'. We'd covered all the bases, all the scenarios, and the best one happened."

"The fact is he's got a lot of minutes under his belt already," Newton said. "It was a very positive spin for the club that John played another 90.

"Again, we will cover all our bases. There are ways and means around it when it comes to training, after what he does at the FA. We'll work out scenarios, be in constant contact with John, the fitness coaches and medical staff will get around him and make sure he's prepared in the best way possible, as we always do."

Goals from Gary Cahill, Ryan Bertrand, Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu, Fernando Torres and Victor Moses inflicted a 6-0 drubbing on their Championship opponents and ensured safe passage to round four.