Chelsea's John Terry has thanked the club's fans for their support after allegations about his private life that cost him the England captaincy.

England manager Fabio Capello took a matter of minutes on Friday to tell Terry his time as captain of the national side was at an end following the central defender's alleged affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of former Chelsea teammate Wayne Bridge.

But the 29-year-old Terry remains the captain of Chelsea, where he has had the unstinting backing of manager Carlo Ancelotti, and the ongoing publicity over his private life appears to have had no adverse effect on his on-field performances.

It was from Terry's flick-on that Didier Drogba scored the first of his two goals on Sunday at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 to regain top spot in the English Premier League.

Terry, who has not commented publicly about his alleged infidelity, remains a hero to many Chelsea supporters and he told Chelsea TV, the club's in-house television station, after Sunday's victory: "On a personal note, I would like to thank every single fan.

"It's been an emotional day (Sunday) for myself and how the fans have been with me over the past two weeks has been quite incredible.

"I didn't expect that today and I would like to thank every single individual fan for the way they treated me.

"It was a great performance and, I mean it from my heart, I would like to thank everyone."

Ballack attacks Wenger sniping

Michael Ballack hit back at Arsene Wenger's sniping at Chelsea's perceived lack of flair by accusing the Arsenal manager of sour grapes over his side's faltering Premier League title challenge.

Arsenal enjoyed plenty of possession when the two clubs met at Stamford Bridge but it was Chelsea who ran out winners with Wenger complaining post-match that "we didn't get a demonstration of football".

Ballack's response was to point out Arsenal's pretty football was not achieving the results they would like.

"We knew the way Arsenal play," the Germany captain said. "It is always the same style. If you play tactics like we did, you can beat them.

"This season and the season before they showed they weren't able to win the league.

"He (Wenger) always says things like this when he loses, he tries to find an excuse - but football is not possession of the ball and playing a nice pass, football is about winning games and that is what Manchester United showed when they played them and what we did."