Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes Arsenal will be considered favourites when the two teams meet at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night, due to them having longer to prepare for the game.
The Blues are in action tonight in the Capital One Cup as they travel to Sunderland, but Arsene Wenger’s men will have the whole week to prepare for the top-of-the-table clash due to being knocked out of the cup competition by Mourinho and co.
Due to playing tonight, Mourinho believes Arsenal will have the edge and an advantage going into the game.
‘To play a game in the same week you play the second against the first is a strange week, especially because Arsenal do not having this game,’ said Mourinho, who will hand Ashley Cole a first team recall tonight.
‘It’s our fault. I can guess that they are having a couple of days off. I can guess they are going to prepare for the game calmly, tactically they be very well prepared.
‘We have to travel, we have to play, we have to come back. ‘But it’s the quarter-final. When you are in the quarter-final, you smell the final. We are going to try.’
Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has also been discussing the fixture list for The Blues.
‘We will have a very big schedule and it is important to go through this period with as many points as you can get because the amount of games the top teams will play in the new year can be decisive as well.
‘We are a team who in the last ten years have been playing with this busy schedule all the time. So we are used to it.
‘That is important as well because you have to know how to play games every third day and for the teams who are not used to that is more tricky.
‘For us it is another month in the year when we know what to expect.’
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
