Tuesday, 26th November, 2013
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has explained that he relishes the crowded festive fixture list as it affords him the opportunity to use his whole squad.
Mourinho's men are close to entering the busy month of December, which will see games against Southampton, Sunderland, Stoke, Steaua Bucharest, Crystal Palace, Sunderland (League Cup), Arsenal, Swansea and Liverpool.
But a spell of nine games in one month is not something which is worrying the Chelsea manager.
He said via his club's official site: "This is a period I like, where the squad can play a role, not just the team.
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"It is a period where only the brave can survive because it is hard, with the Christmas period where the accumulation of matches is so high.
"You don't do it as a normal team, you do it as a special group with a special mentality. I missed it when I was in Italy and Spain.
"We have nine matches in December and one is the match against Steaua so instead of nine matches, if we can finish the job [today against Basel in the Champions League] it will be eight competitive matches and that is our motivation."
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