Chelsea captain John Terry is injured after going down in a tackle with Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.
(CNN) -- Chelsea captain John Terry is set to return to action quicker than originally suspected after a scan on his injured knee revealed "no significant damaage," the English Premier League giants said Monday.
Terry was stretchered off in agony in his side's 1-1 home draw with Liverpool after a collision with Uruguay star Luis Suarez.
A lengthy spell on the sidelines looked inevitable but after a scan Chelsea said his right knee injury would heal in a matter of weeks rather than months.
The former England international had returned from a four-game domestic ban for racially abusing an opponent, and made an immediate impact as he put the London club in front in the first half at Stamford Bridge Sunday.
It is now nearly a year since Chelsea lost to QPR 1-0 in an English Premier League game at Loftus Road. During the game it was alleged QPR defender Anton Ferdinand swore at John Terry and made reference to the Chelsea captain's reported affair with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne Bridge. Terry is then said to have described Ferdinand as a "f***ing black c***".
Crime and Punishment in sport
Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League trophy for the first time in their history
Chelsea parade Champions League trophy
John Terry made his Chelsea debut as a substitute against Aston Villa in 1998. After a short loan spell with second-tier Nottingham Forest, Terry established himself in the Chelsea first team during the 2000-01 English Premier League season.
Career of John Terry
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez was handed an eight-match ban by the English Football Association for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra in a match in October 2011. Suarez refused to shake Evra's hand during the customary pre-match ritual ahead of the teams' clash on February 12 this year. The Uruguayan has since apologized for his snub of the France defender.
Racism incidents in football
But then came his accidental collision with Suarez, who later scored the equalizer for the visitors to put a dampener on Chelsea's title challenge.
He took to Twitter after the game to send Terry his best wishes. "Hugs to Terry, I hope it's nothing serious," he wrote.
Chelsea's first profit of Abramovich era
European champion Chelsea had set the early-season pace, but now trail leaders Manchester United by three points after dropping into third place.
EPL titleholders Manchester City claimed second on Sunday with a 2-1 win at home to Tottenham, coming from behind before substitute Edin Dzeko snatched a late winner.
Chelsea's momentum was derailed following claims of racism laid against referee Mark Clattenburg after the controversial home defeat by United on October 28, which was followed by the arrest of a Chelsea fan who made an alleged monkey gesture at a United player in a cup game just days later.
Terry wasn't selected for Wednesday's Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk, where David Luiz and Gary Cahill looked shaky in defense, but the former England skipper made his mark at Stamford Bridge.
The 31-year-old scored his 50th career goal for Chelsea in the 20th minute as he lost his marker Daniel Agger at a corner and powerfully headed home at the near post from Juan Mata's delivery.
But he had to be replaced by Cahill after Suarez fell on his knee during a tackle, following a mistake by Terry that gave the ball to Steven Gerrard.
Suarez, a hate figure with opposing fans after last season's Patrice Evra racism controversy, matched Robin van Persie's EPL-leading eight goals this season when he headed home from Jamie Carragher's flick-on in the 73rd minute.
The Uruguay striker could have later ended Liverpool's run of five games without a win but was denied by keeper Petr Cech.
The draw, Liverpool's sixth in 11 league matches, left Brendan Rogers' team in 13th place -- 15 points behind bitter rivals United.
Manchester City moved to within two points of Alex Ferguson's United team, who came from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 on Saturday.
The pressure on manager Roberto Mancini appeared to be increasing when England goalkeeper Joe Hart failed to keep out a header from Tottenham defender Steven Caulker in the 21st minute.
But last season's top scorer Sergio Aguero capitalized on poor defending to level in the 66th minute and Dzeko once again proved his worth off the bench with an 88th-minute winner.
It was the Bosnia striker's sixth league goal this season, and five have come as a sub.
"The goals are my message. That's the only thing," Dzeko said after the match.
"Again from a free-kick we conceded a goal as stupid as against Arsenal. We have to improve there. But after goal we were the better team for the 90 minutes and in the end we deserved it. Even when we are losing we come back."
City also came from behind in midweek to draw 2-2 with Ajax in a result that all but ended hopes of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League.
Newcastle salvaged a 2-2 draw against Bruges in the second-tier Europa League on Thursday, but could not repeat the trick against West Ham.
Kevin Nolan scored the only goal against his former team, giving visiting manager Sam Allardyce victory against the club that sacked him in 2008.
The result lifted West Ham up to sixth above Tottenham, while Newcastle stayed 10th.
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The veteran defender left Stamford Bridge on crutches after a short-lived return to the Chelsea line-up, and will have a knee scan on Monday.
Terry had put Chelsea ahead in the 20th minute on his return from a four-match domestic ban for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand last season. It was his 50th career goal for Chelsea.
Suarez joined Manchester United's Robin van Persie at the top of the EPL scoring charts with his eighth this season, earning Liverpool's sixth draw in 11 league outings.
In July, Terry was cleared in a London court, where the criminal burden of proof is "beyond all reasonable doubt". But the English Football Association then investigated the case, and using the test of "on the balance of probabilities", came to the conclusion that Terry's defence against claims he racially abused Ferdinand was "improbable, implausible, contrived".
Back in September, Ferdinand had declined Terry's offer of a handshake when QPR met Chelsea at Loftus Road as the feud between the two players rumbled on.
After the FA delivered the independent commission's report on the Terry case, the Chelsea captain's teammate Ashley Cole tweeted: "Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFT***S". The Chelsea and England left-back quickly issued a "unreserved apology" for his tweet through his solicitor.
In 2011 the FA had to deal with another racism case, this time handing Liverpool striker Luis Suarez an eight-match ban and a $63,000 fine after finding the Uruguayan guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.
Suarez and Evra failed to shake hands before the start of an English Premier League game at Old Trafford last season after the Uruguayan had served his ban. However, when United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield in September, the pair did shake hands.
Questions have been raised about UEFA's sanctioning policy. Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner was fined $126,000 and banned from playing in his side's next competitive game for flashing his sponsored waistband promoting a bookmaker as he celebrated a goal against Portugal in Euro 2012. But that fine eclipsed the $52,000 fine that UEFA handed to the Bulgarian Football Union for its fans' racist abuse of England players during a Euro 2012 qualifier in Sofia in September 2011.
In November 2011, FIFA president Sepp Blatter told CNN that football did not have a problem with racism on the field and any incidents should be settled by a handshake.
The FA's Independent Regulatory Commission heard 473 cases between December 2010 and December 2011, but only two of them ended in "not guilty" verdicts.
Stoke City boss Tony Pulis wants the Football Association to punish Liverpool's Luis Suarez for diving. "It's an embarrassment," said the Stoke manager after a 0-0 draw at Anfield. "The FA should be looking at this."
Chelsea fans packed the streets around southwest London to see the victory parade
Chelsea captain John Terry was suspended for the final but lifted the trophy in Munich and was center of the celebrations again on the parade
An estimated 100,000 Chelsea fans were in Munich for the final and thousands more lined the parade route on Sunday
Didier Drogba, who could leave the club in the summer, scored for Chelsea to take the game into extra time and converted the winning penalty
In his first full season as captain, Terry led Chelsea to a first English top-flight title in 50 years.
Terry's international profile continued to grow and he was named England captain by new manager Steve McClaren in 2006. He scored the opening goal in his first match as skipper, a 4-0 victory over Greece.
Chelsea faced Manchester United in the 2008 European Champions League final in Moscow. In the penalty shootout, Terry had the chance to give Chelsea the trophy for the first time but his spot-kick hit the post and United claimed glory.
Terry pleaded not guilty to charges of racial abuse in a British court on February 1. The incident in question occurred during Chelsea's defeat to Queens Park Rangers in October. The hearing will be held from July 9.
Chelsea captain John Terry will face trial in July for alleged racist abuse of Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match on October 23. Terry, who was stripped of the England captaincy, denies the charges.
A fan was banned from attending all football matches for three years after directing racist abuse at Liverpool defender Glen Johnson during a match on January 3. Andrew Dale, 36, was also fined £400 ($628).
Police are investigating alleged racist abuse by a fan of third division Oldham Athletic's Tom Adeyemi during a FA Cup tie with Liverpool on January 6.
Manchester City defender Micah Richards closed his Twitter account in February after receiving sustained abuse from other users. "I did enjoy Twitter and the banter with the fans, but I didn't like the abuse you get on it," he said. "I thought it was just for the best for myself because it can affect your confidence if people are saying things about you. I just thought it was best to come off and concentrate fully on football."
Manchester City lodged an official complaint with European football's governing body UEFA last week after Italy striker Mario Balotelli complained of racist chanting during a Europa League match against Porto.
Bugaria's football association was fined €40,000 ($53,000) in November 2011 after England complained about racist abuse of winger Ashley Young during an international match in Sofia.
Brazilian World Cup winner Roberto Carlos walked off the pitch while playing for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala against Krylya Sovetov in June 2011, after having a banana thrown towards him in the closing stages of the match.
Samuel Eto'o, one of Africa's greatest players, tried to walk off the pitch in protest after being racially abused while playing for Barcelona against Real Zaragoza in Spain in 2006. His teammates and the referee persuaded him to stay on.
The Malaysian FA apologized to Chelsea in Julyn 2011, when Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun was subject to racial slurs during a pre-season game in the country.
In 2008, German midfielder Torsten Ziegner was banned five matches for racially abusing Nigerian opponent Kingsley Onuegbu during a lower league match.
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