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Friday 28 August 2015

Jose Mourinho quiet on John Stones bids


Jose Mourinho refused to comment on Chelsea’s pursuit of John Stones after admitting the Premier League champions had practised their defending this week.

The Blues are understood to have had four bids rejected so far — although Everton refused to confirm the latest reported £37m (€50m) offer — and are unlikely to lodge a further bid before Tuesday’s 6pm deadline.

“I don’t speak about players from other teams,” said Mourinho, whose side play Crystal Palace today in his 100th Premier League home game at Stamford Bridge. “I have a good squad. I’m happy with the squad I have. If I get another player until the end of the market, good. If I don’t get, we go with what we have.”

Mourinho was asked about Everton boss Roberto Martinez’s belief that the transfer window should close before the competition begins. It is something the Portuguese has suggested previously, but he refused to respond.

“You think I’m going to comment on Roberto Martinez’s words?” Mourinho said. “Not generally, I don’t comment. I don’t comment on other opinions.”

Speculation of a Chelsea move for France midfielder Paul Pogba continues as the transfer deadline approaches, but Mourinho again declined to comment.“He’s a Juventus player, I’m the Chelsea manager,” added Mourinho.

The Blues have also been linked with China right-back Zhang Linpeng from Guangzhou Evergande, an interest understood to be genuine. Once more, Mourinho was silent. “He is a Guangzhou player, so it’s the same story. I don’t comment.”

Captain John Terry was sent off in the 3-2 win at The Hawthorns and is suspended, with Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma likely to line-up in central defence.

Chelsea have one loss in Mourinho’s 99 home games —against Sunderland in April 2014 — but have already conceded seven goals in three games this term, including a 3-0 loss at Manchester City.

“We did a few things [in training],” Mourinho said.

“We defended with nine men. I didn’t work the defenders, I worked the team, because you cannot blame defenders for goals conceded, because a team is a team and a good team defends as a team.”

Mourinho insists Chelsea’s start, which began with a 2-2 home draw with Swansea, is no “drama”, and that the five-point gap to leaders City is manageable. “It’s not normal that in three matches you have two penalties against and you play with ten men twice,” said Mourinho, who saw goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois sent off against Swansea.

“One match at home, two matches away, four points is not what we want, but four points is not a drama.

“When you are five points behind a leader in another league that can be complicated. In the Premier League it’s not complicated.”

Chelsea beat Palace 1-0 to secure a first Premier League title in five years on May 3 and Mourinho hopes to, at least, avoid defeat in his 100th Premier League home game.

Palace manager Alan Pardew believes Premier League champions Chelsea could be a better team than last season despite their poor start.

Pardew said: “They have a side that looks to me like it could be better than the one last year and that one won them the league.

“They have some new players. They’re integrating those.

“It would be fair to say Chelsea are not quite in the groove [they were in] when we played them last time.”

History is against Palace and it is 33 years since the Eagles won at Stamford Bridge. “We performed last year almost to our maximum and still got beat. It’s one of those places,” Pardew added.

Yannick Bolasie returns from compassionate leave following the death of his father.

Wilfried Zaha could drop out for Bolasie, while midfielder Mile Jedinak is out for two to three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.

Goalkeeper Julian Speroni (finger) and strikers Marouane Chamakh and Fraizer Campbell (both hamstring) are likely to be absent again.

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