CHERRIES club captain Tommy Elphick has described his Chelsea opposite number John Terry as “the best centre-half of my generation”.

Elphick revealed the decorated England defender had been a role model to him during his formative years coming through the ranks at Brighton.

Terry has been sidelined for a month due to Achilles and hamstring injuries and is doubtful for Chelsea’s showdown with Cherries at Vitality Stadium tomorrow.

The 35-year-old has been capped 78 times by his country, winning four Premier League titles, five FA Cups and three League Cups with the Blues.

He also won the Europa League in 2013 but missed Chelsea’s 2012 Champions League final victory against Bayern Munich through suspension, having been sent off in the semi-final against Barcelona.

Terry is expected to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the season and draw a line under his trophy-laden 18-year professional career with the champions after being informed in January the club would not be offering him a contract extension.

The former England captain last month stated publicly he would be keen to extend his stay at Chelsea and said he would not contemplate playing for another club in the Premier League.

Elphick told the Daily Echo: “He has been an unbelievable servant to the club and probably the best captain they have ever had.

“For someone like him to be in doubt over his future is quite surprising. In my opinion, he probably deserves a little bit more loyalty.

“But at this moment in time and where Chelsea haven’t got a manager in place full time yet, they probably have other things to worry about. I am sure if he was offered the opportunity to stay at Chelsea, he would.

“For someone who is similar in stature to me, he was a great role model when I was a young player learning the game.

“I think he gets overlooked for the way he plays. He is excellent on the ball, he is left and right-footed and reads the game like no other. For me, he is definitely the centre-half of my generation and the one I always aspired to be.”

Elphick, who has made two Premier League appearances since returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, missed Cherries’ epic 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge in December, as did Terry.

“It was a memorable day at Stamford Bridge so we can take confidence from the way we played there,” added Elphick, who looked on from the stands as Glenn Murray bagged a dramatic late winner for Cherries.

“Winning against Chelsea and Manchester United proved we can perform and compete against the top sides.

“Saying that, we know we were disappointing recently against Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool.

“This is another fantastic opportunity to pitch ourselves against some of the best players in Europe.

“Leading up to the Liverpool game, a lot was made of the fact we had never beaten them. But our history is pretty recent against some of the clubs in this league and the only way we are going to rewrite it is by beating them.

“Three of our final four games are against clubs which have spent the majority of their respective histories in the top division so there is no better time than now to start trying to write new chapters for us.”