Chelsea managed to go top of the table after a convincing 3-0 win over Newcastle United, which made it 10 matches without defeat for the blues. This includes matches against the likes of Manchester city at the Etihad stadium, where they were expected to struggle.

Eden Hazard scored a hat-trick to remind everyone of his qualities. Despite this impressive result, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho continued to downplay Chelsea’s chances of winning the title after saying that he is looking only at the fifth place battle tomorrow. Continue reading →

Chelsea is quickly becoming serious title contenders with consistent performances and good results that have allowed them to stay right behind Manchester City and Arsenal in the Premier League.

Bertrand Traore signed a 4 year contract with Chelsea as he became the first signing of Jose Mourinho’s side in January. The 18 years old player Traore had previously signed a contract with Chelsea back in October but had to wait until the transfer window opened up again in order to officially become a player of the Premier League club.

Juan Mata is rumored to be frustrated with the limited playing time he has under the guidance of Jose Mourinho and might make a move away from the club if things don’t take a turn for the better.

Mourinho said: “I want to keep him. I want to keep him. I don’t want him to go.

“That’s my opinion, my wish. But my door is open and the club’s door is open too. When a player wants to speak with us we are there waiting.”

Jose Mourinho knows it himself that the Spanish midfielder is unhappy with the current role that he has right now in Chelsea. PSG is a possible destination for Juan Mata if he indeed leaves Chelsea, PSG has already shown interest in securing the services of the player.

Another player that has been linked with a possible move away from the club is Kevin de Bruyne who joined Chelsea a year and a half ago with a price tag of £6.7million but his chances on playing on the main team are severely restricted.

Wolfsburg will be willing to offload £17 million for the Belgian player but the final decision will be on the hands of Jose Mourinho. Kevin de Bruyne truly wants to make it into the Belgium national team and play for the 2014 World Cup but this may be in jeopardy if he cannot get playing time in Chelsea.

Chelsea have been consistently playing around 60 matches per season in the last few years. This was especially true in the case of the José Mourinho era. Now that the Portuguese is back at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea can be expected to play a similar amount of games this time around as well. Mourinho is a manager who does not think about having easy and difficult matches. He gives equal importance to all competitions over the course of a campaign. Chelsea have made a couple of signings in this transfer window, which has strengthened their squad.

Mourinho recently revealed that he has two players for every position. Rather than stick with the same group for every match, the Portuguese will now be rotating players in order to keep them fresh over the course of a season. Players like Juan Mata and Eden Hazard played a number of games for Chelsea last season, while Torres made close to 60 appearances. It will not be the case this time around according to Mourinho. He has praised the likes of Victor Moses, who have made a great impression in pre-season.

He has said that the former Wigan star is the kind of player who can change the game coming on from the bench.

“Where can I can fit all the players in? I hope to play 60 matches, so where I maybe won’t use different teams, we will use rotation of players that’s for sure. Victor has been terrific. He is another one who is working very hard. He hasn’t missed a single minute of a training session. I think Victor is a very good option for us. In Victor’s position we have Hazard, De Bruyne, Schürrle – it’s a position where a coach can make a change during a match and give new life and fresh blood to the team,” said Mourinho.

Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez has started the mind games ahead of the FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City on Sunday. Chelsea will be coming into the match after having played four matches eight days, while the recently travelled to Russia on Thursday in order to play against Rubin Kazan in the Europa league. Manchester City, meanwhile, have been playing around one game a week for the last few months since been knocked out of the Champions League. As a result, the opposition have a clear advantage when it comes to the fitness and freshness of the players.

Some of the Chelsea players have been working very tired in the past few matches, but Benitez rested the key midfielders for the club – Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, and Oscar – against Rubin Kazan. Hence, they are likely to be a bit more fresh. Further, Demba Ba did not also take part in the Europa league encounter. He recently scored in the 1-0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup, but he was not at his best against Sunderland in the last Premier league match. Fernando Torres, on the other hand, has managed three goals in his last three appearances for the team, and has been showing signs of returning to form.

“It’s always an advantage (to have rested while Chelsea travelled). I don’t know how much. We’ve tried to manage our squad and we have players with some fresh legs. Hopefully we will be fine. We have too many games and we have to use the squad. Everyone has to be on their toes. Too many games in a season. I will not say international or what kind of games. Too many games, though. Reduce the number of games: simple. To see a game where you can win 8-0 at international level is not an amazing experience for anyone,” said Benitez.