Friday, 14th February, 2014
Jose Mourinho hopes his Manchester City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini is as good as his word about not getting involved in the mind games anymore.
Pellegrini gave up on the verbal battles with Chelsea boss Mourinho after a row over Manchester City's Yaya Toure not getting an FA suspension flared up.
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Pellegrini, who did not want to "respond to things Mourinho says every week", will face Chelsea in tomorrow's FA Cup game.
The scene was being set in the press conferences, involving Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as well, while Mourinho was well pleased at Pellegrini's vow.
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"If he doesn't like to speak about me, that's perfect," Mourinho said. "And I hope he does what he says and he doesn't speak about me."
The two sides had met only recently in the league, with Chelsea breaking Manchester City's unbeaten home record for the first time this season.
However, Chelsea are nursing a few injuries – Gary Cahill is out with a calf niggle – and Mourinho was largely stoic about tomorrow's result, with no stalemates allowed.
"No two games are the same," the Portuguese explained. "Is the approach the same in the sense of we are going to try to win? Yes.
"But we don't want a replay. we don't need a replay. It's football; we want to win. If we do, we do, if we lose, we lose."
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