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Terry's salary to be slashed?

London - Chelsea are confident veteran defender John Terry will "amicably" agree a new contract in the near future, assistant coach Steve Holland said on Friday.

Former England centre-back Terry has reportedly been offered a new contract by the west London club but on half his current salary.

However, Holland denied any talk of a tense atmosphere between the club and their 33-year-old stalwart, while suggesting two more senior players in England duo Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were both on the brink of signing new deals as well.

"John has had an outstanding season; we have the best defensive record in the Premier League and he's played in almost all of that and been a major part of it all," said Holland, ahead of Saturday's English Premiership clash with bottom-of-the-table Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.

"I know that John wants to stay at Chelsea, and Chelsea want John to stay, so hopefully that situation can be concluded amicably over the next few weeks.

"It's the same situation (with Lampard and Cole), we're dealing with not just normal players, but magnificent servants for this club over a long period.

"So full respect will be given for those players."

Chelsea are currently second in the table, just two points behind leaders Liverpool with four matches remaining.

But they will have to maintain their title challenge, at home to bottom of the table Sunderland on Saturday, without Eden Hazard.

Indeed the 23-year-old Belgium playmaker's fitness is such he may not even be ready for Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg trip to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.

"Eden Hazard won't be fit for tomorrow (Saturday), but everyone else trained today, so we're not in bad shape," said Holland.

"I wouldn't say he is definitely out (of the Champions League tie) at this stage, but the fact that he hasn't yet trained with the group would suggest he still remains a doubt."

Meanwhile Holland said Jose Mourinho's squad had the experience to maintain a simultaneous push for both the Premier League and Champions League trophies.

"Experience is always vital in any competition and we have a good blend in our squad," said Holland.

"We also have a very experienced manager who has been in this situation before, and it's good to have that experience at this stage.

"We've got the circumstances we have: this is a club used to playing a lot of matches at this stage of the season.

"Last season we got to the final of the Europa League which was 15 extra matches, the year before we had 13 for the Champions League.

"We're in a situation we've been in before.

"When Roberto (di Matteo) was manager in 2012 we played Spurs at Tottenham on a Sunday evening, where the game could have gone to penalties.

"We then played Barcelona in the Champions League on the Wednesday then Arsenal at the Emirates for a vital game for fourth, then Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

"We realised to have any chance in the Nou Camp, to have the energy required to get over the line in that tie, something had to give.

"We made eight changes for Arsenal, we still drew the game, but something had to give.

"As you know we just managed to scrape over the line in the Nou Camp.

"It's a really challenging period emotionally; you've got to have experienced it to appreciate what it takes out of the players.

"That makes the challenge more difficult, but it's the way it is, it's something we've done before, we've got a good squad and we've got to do it again."

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