Chelsea V Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley Stadium : Match Preview

01 March 2015 11:16
Chelsea V Tottenham Hotspur - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Mourinho has Wembley wish

Jose Mourinho wants his Chelsea squad to become Wembley regulars.

Mourinho is bidding for the first trophy of his second spell at Stamford Bridge when the Blues play Tottenham in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday.

Chelsea have not won the trophy since Mourinho's second League Cup success in 2007 - they were beaten by Spurs in the final the following year - and last claimed silverware in 2013 when they lifted the Europa League.

"Chelsea cannot win everything and cannot win every season," Mourinho said.

"If you want to do that you have to change country and go to a country where the competition is not so hard and where to win titles is an obligation year after year after year.

"Chelsea in the last 10 years won the League Cup twice, but many times was at Wembley, winning FA Cups, (and) won Premier Leagues, won European competitions. Chelsea is doing very, very well.

"(We) try to build with this new generation of players and with this new team, try to make Wembley something normal for us. Normal in the sense that we try to go there year after year."

Chelsea beat Tottenham 3-0 on December 3 in the Premier League, but lost the return 5-3 less than a month later.

Mourinho still feels his side were denied an early penalty in the New Year's Day contest.

"When after 25 minutes you can be 2-0 up everything else is a consequence," he said.

"Of course after that we made mistakes and we made defensive mistakes. Every time we were making a mistake we were punished with a goal.

"(But) it's difficult to analyse a game where you started so well and after 20 minutes you could be 2-0 up."

Mauricio Pochettino is not losing sleep over letting down those Tottenham players who will not feature at Wembley, insisting they need to know he is the boss.

Spurs are looking to win their first trophy since their 2-1 victory over the Blues in 2008.

Pochettino's side have now played more games than any other Barclays Premier League side this season, with Thursday night's 2-0 Europa League defeat to Fiorentina their 44th fixture.

During that time the Argentinian has shuffled his pack but, with no more FA Cup or European commitments, he can now focus fully on Sunday's cup final.

There will be several key decisions to make in the hope of beating Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, with a toss-up between Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm for the goalkeeper position just one of an intriguing number of battles.

Lloris has been in fine form this season but Vorm has played throughout the cup run and, with decisions on central-defensive partnerships and which attacking talent to deploy, Pochettino will have been nursing some serious headaches in the build-up to his first English final.

But the 42-year-old will not be selecting a team on sentiment and neither will he have any qualms in telling those who have not made his side that they have missed out.

"Always it is a difficult moment," he said.

"Players want to play always and in all competitions. Every time you pick the starting XI or the squad of 18 it is always difficult to communicate to the players who are not in the squad. But this is football, this is our job and us and the players need to understand always about my decision.

"In each game and every game I take a decision and analyse which is the best side to pick. It's not a different rule for the final. The players, like on the first day, need to understand that I am the boss.

"I decide the squad, I decide the starting XI and I decide who plays and who does not. It is true that it is a final and an important game but the players need to accept my decision."


Source: PA