Terry baffled by Vieira's exit from Arsenal

Terry cannot wait to lead Chelsea out at the Millennium Stadium against Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday and he is delighted that Vieira will not be there to greet him in the tunnel before the match.

Chelsea finished 12 points clear of Arsenal last season and their North London rivals have since sold the Frenchman to Juventus for £13.7m. Arsenal have not yet signed a replacement.

Terry says he still cannot believe that Arsenal were prepared to let their captain go and he insists they have no one in their squad who is ready to fill the void.

"I'm not quite sure what impact it will have on Arsenal," he said. "He is obviously going to be a big miss. If you took one of our midfielders out of the team that would be the same. I can't even imagine our team without Frank Lampard in it. Arsène Wenger has some great players and has some young players who can maybe step into the hole and maybe be as good as him one day. But I think initially they will miss him."

A Rui Costa goal 10 minutes from time for Milan denied Chelsea three successive wins from their games in the United States. Terry has called the tour a success all the same and is hoping Chelsea's good form will lead to the psychological boost of a win over Arsenal just seven days before their first Premiership fixture against Wigan.

"I think it's been a few years since we've beaten them in the league. It would be nice to get a win under our belt and the Community Shield would be the perfect place to do it and to get one up on them.

"The attitude at the club is the same as it was last season. We don't want to lose even if it's a friendly. We wanted to do well here and win three games and then win the Community Shield so we go into the season on a real high."