Mourinho to deliberately field a weakened side against Arsenal

Chelsea’s Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho gestures during the English Premier League football match between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge in west London on October 27, 2013. Chelsea won the game 2-1.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, expressing his disgruntlement at the football authorities for thoughtless scheduling, has revealed that the Blues will be deliberately playing a weakened side against Arsenal in their Capital One Cup fixture against Arsenal on Tuesday.

Mourinho’s side will be travelling to the Emirates Stadium within just two days of an intensely fought Premier League affair against Manchester City, which his team won 2-1, for their fourth round tie against the Gunners.

Mourinho said: “We are going to give the game that the people that put the game on Tuesday wants. If they want a big game, we cannot give the big game. If they want the players that were playing [on Sunday], we cannot give them that.

“If they want Arsenal to win a trophy, that’s a help. If they want a big game between two big teams in London they should put the game on Wednesday and not on Tuesday.”

However, the Chelsea boss ruled out the option of playing their youth team stating that they need enough time to recover from their Saturday fixture. He said: “It is not the plan because we have to also respect our fans. We have to protect our players. We cannot put our players playing in October two matches in the space of three days.

“They played [on Saturday] at 12:30, so [that is] two-and-a-half days to prepare. I hope they [the football authorities] all enjoy. We are going to try to do our job and we will do our job the best we can.”