Jose Mourinho is confident that Chelsea can negotiate a difficult away trip to Newcastle even without the suspended Nemanja Matic. The Serbia international has been in excellent form for the Blues, anchoring the midfielder and starting all of their Premier League matches so far this season, but he picked up a fifth booking of the campaign against Tottenham. Mourinho, though, is adamant that his squad are strong enough to cope with the absence of Matic, just as they did when Diego Costa was suspended against Spurs – a match that the west Londoners won 3-0. When asked by reporters about Matics suspension, the Portuguese replied: No problem. Diego was also important for us and he didnt play and we didnt want to speak about him. This time it is a big player for us who isnt playing but we trust other people and we forget Matic. He has a little bit of a holiday, a free weekend which he deserves very, very much, and he comes back stronger. Mourinho, who claims that he doesnt care about the records that Chelsea could break this season, has famously never won at St Jamess Park in the league and expects the Magpies to raise their game against his side once again. Asked why he struggles against the Toon, he said: Because it is difficult, it is a difficult stadium to play. There are a few stadiums in this country where clearly, when they see the Chelsea shirt, they play the game of their lives. When they play against other teams they look like they are playing friendlies but maybe this is because Chelsea, in the last decade, became a strong team that everybody wants to beat. Despite scoring against Tottenham on Wednesday evening, Mourinho also confirmed that Didier Drogba was unlikely to keep his place in the squad, with Diego Costa returning to the starting XI.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 21:55:42 +0000
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