John Terry (left) Anton Ferdinand LONDON — Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has confirmed John Terry and Ashley Cole are expected to take part in the potentially explosive pre-match handshake with QPR's Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road Saturday. Terry and Cole have recovered from the ankle injuries which ruled them out of England's World Cup qualifier against Ukraine Tuesday and that means the duo are in line for a showdown with QPR defender Ferdinand. In July, Chelsea captain Terry was cleared in court of racially abusing Ferdinand during a Premier League match at QPR last year, with Cole giving evidence as a character witness for his teammate. Terry, who was stripped of the England armband by the Football Association before his trial, is still facing a separate FA charge over the incident and that hearing is expected to begin on Sept. 24. Ferdinand, Terry and Cole are set to come face to face Saturday for the first time since the trial and the Premier League have insisted the pre-match handshake, which was cancelled ahead of the clubs' last two meetings, will go ahead. Reports in the build-up to the West London derby claim Ferdinand is planning to ignore Terry and Cole during the traditional greeting, while some of his QPR teammates may also refuse to shake hands with the Chelsea defenders. With bad feeling still lingering, Chelsea and QPR officials have held talks in a bid to defuse the tension, but Di Matteo insists his players will all take part in the handshake as usual. “We'll go ahead with it, yes,” Di Matteo said Friday. “We're going to respect the rules. “They've recovered (from injury), had a couple of days training and we expect them to be available for Saturday.” The issue regarding team handshakes is set to crop up again next week when Liverpool hosts Manchester United in the Premier League at Anfield, in the wake of a racism row between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra. Suarez refused to shake hands with Evra before a match at Old Trafford in February, soon after completing an eight-match ban for racially abusing the Manchester United defender in a league game in October. The Liverpool and Uruguay striker apologized for his actions, which reignited the racial issues that have blighted English soccer this season. — Agencies
