Terry eyeing epic night at Stamford Bridge

The former England captain missed the 3-1 defeat in southern Italy last month, a result that contributed to the sacking of coach Andre Villas-Boas, but is back after recovering from a knee injury and desperate for a Stamford Bridge fightback.

"If it goes well it could do down as one of the great nights in Chelsea history," Terry, for whom the Champions League has remained agonisingly out of reach, told reporters on Tuesday.

"These nights at the Bridge can be intimidating for visiting teams. We experienced it when we went there, they were in our faces, which wasn't nice, even though we went 1-0 up.

"It was a hostile atmosphere over there and they showed they are an attacking side, a very good footballing side. We are very aware what they possess. But we are hoping we have the experience and the squad to overcome that."

With Chelsea still outside the top four in the Premier League and their chances of qualification for the Champions League in the balance, the clash with Napoli has deeper significance for some of the ageing squad.

While Terry insists he still has a few years left in him, time is running out for Chelsea's established core including Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.

"Naturally we have players out of contract and players in negotiation with their current contracts. I'm hoping many stay and many come in," Terry said.

"But the key factor when it comes to players coming into this club is that we need to be playing Champions League football next year. We need Champions League football financially, and to attract the best players.

"We understand as a group what we need to do to ensure that happens, and we'll do everything we can to make sure it does happen."

The first priority, however, is overcoming Napoli.

"The start will be important to make the fans ready and to make ourselves believe," Terry said.

"That could be the key factor, but we have the patience and the experience to know that it only takes a couple of minutes to score two goals."