Tal Ben Haim is keen to pair up with Chelsea captain John Terry for today's big match at Liverpool.
The Israel international defender said: "I think John Terry is a fantastic player, he's the captain of the club, he's helped me settle in, he's helped me with everything.
"I think he's a very important player for the team. And I'm sure against Liverpool you will see how important he is.
"Whatever I have needed, he has looked after me. He's been very nice to me, helped me to settle in. I'm very happy.
"He spoke and connected very well and this is John Terry. He's not only a fantastic footballer. He has character, he's a leader and we need him fit for the season."
Ben Haim found himself having to play alongside full-back Glen Johnson in the centre of the Chelsea defence during Wednesday night's 2-1 win over Reading after Ricardo Carvalho had limped off with a thigh injury.
But despite marshalling the defence with a commanding performance in the second half, Ben Haim knows there is still room for improvement.
He added: "We have played two games and got six points so I think everybody is happy. My own performance was okay, I think.
"It still can be better. I play with fantastic players so I can improve my ability. I know I can, I know I can be a better player.
"When you play with top players of course you play better as well. As a team I think we have made a good start and we want to keep it going.
"We have had two hard games. Birmingham won the Championship and they came as winners to play against us.
"Then we played a very hard game against Reading, I'm sure not many teams will win there because it's a tough place. We showed a lot of character and motivation in the second half especially. I'm very happy that we got the result that we wanted."
