Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho feels the absence of Nemanja Matic is a huge blow to his side’s hopes of landing the Capital One Cup Matic was sent off in the 1-1 draw with Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after pushing Ashley Barnes following a dangerous challenge from the Clarets forward.
Mourinho says the loss of the Serbian midfielder hands Spurs an advantage ahead of Sunday’s Capital One Cup final.
“It will be an advantage [that Matic is suspended]. In football an advantage is an advantage,” he is quoted as saying by the London Evening Standard.
Ramires could be set to replace Matic in the Chelsea line-up on Sunday, and Mourinho is expecting a stern test from a Spurs side who beat the Blues 5-3 on New Year’s Day.
He said: “They [Tottenham] have such a good squad, almost replicas with two players for every position. What’s the difference between Erik Lamela and Andros Townsend? Nacer Chadli and Christian Eriksen? Paulinho and Ryan Mason? [Jan] Vertonghen and Fazio – actually Vertonghen likes to get cards to the opponents.”
He added: “In England I have been lucky because sometimes you don’t play finals against big clubs. But every final I have played was against a big club.
“The first one was against Liverpool [League Cup 2005], the second League Cup was against Arsenal [2007], the FA Cup Final [also in 2007] was against Manchester United. Now I have Tottenham so I am lucky because all my finals were big finals.”
Chelsea are 1.66 to win Sunday’s final, a draw is priced at 3.85 and Spurs are 4.59 to come out on top.
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