Terry: Watching Manchester United lift Premier League title hurt

Blues skipper believes English top flight is as strong as it has ever been with numerous teams challenging for the title before praising new boss Andre-Villas Boas.

John Terry has admitted watching Manchester United lift the Premier League title last season hurt him and his Chelsea team-mates.

The Blues captain revealed he’s impressed by the desire of their rivals in particularly manager Sir Alex Ferguson to keep striving to win everything they can.

Terry hopes he can emulate the success of the Red Devils as Chelsea look to re-gain the Premier League title and lift it for a fourth time.

The England captain told Sky Sports News: "We all see the quality they [Manchester United] have got, the hunger they have still got and the manager has.

"When I see that it really drives me on. They have set the benchmark for everybody over the last 20 years which we are all trying to catch and achieve.

"When I saw them lift this trophy last year, it still hurts today. I want to get my hands back on it this [season] and lift it.

The defender believes that the Premier League is improving every year and there are more teams challenging for the title than in previous seasons.

"The competition is improving year in, year out, the players are getting stronger and the managers want it a lot more.

"I am worried about a lot of teams. Everyone out there has strengthened. Manchester City and Manchester United have signed some very good players, Liverpool seem to have strengthened an awful lot.

"There are not just one or two sides like there has been over the last four or five years, there are six or seven teams which can really push and have a chance of winning this great trophy."

Terry has also praised the effect of new boss Andre Villas-Boas especially his training methods and believes Chelsea are in for a hard game against Stoke in their Premier League opener on Sunday.

He added: "He has brought a lot of new fresh ideas to the training, to the way he wants us to play, which will hopefully get us to lift this at the end of the season.

"A lot of the lads knew him from when he was here before under Mourinho, but he has obviously gone away and done his own thing so we have to pay him a lot of respect and treat him as his own man.

"He has obviously learnt from the very best. His whole demeanour and the emphasis he is putting on training, he has brought an awful lot to us in a very short space of time.

"We are ready for the season and we are ready for the Stoke game this weekend. It is going to be a tough game. They have got great support, a great side and a great manager."