Beat Chelsea? You must be joking says Spurs boss Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho appears to have already conceded defeat against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night and has predicted that Tottenham’s punishing fixture schedule will lead to a spate of injuries.

With more than £2 million guaranteed for reaching the group phase of the Europa League - and the competition’s wider potential route into the Champions League - Mourinho said that he would be forced to prioritise Thursday’s match against Maccabi Haifa rather than a London derby against his former club.

Mourinho also implied that Harry Kane would be rested against Chelsea and, when asked if Spurs had a “real chance” of progressing in the competition, he said: “You're joking or you're serious?”

Asked to explain that answer, Mourinho replied: “Because Chelsea played Saturday [against West Bromwich Albion], they have Sunday and Monday [to train or rest] then they play Tuesday and then they play again on the weekend. So their fantastic squad, if the manager decides not to rotate, he can perfectly play with the players that he wants. Forgetting the past Thursday, we played on the Sunday, now we play on the Tuesday, we play on the Thursday, we play on the Sunday again.”

Son Heung-Min was forced off at half-time of Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Newcastle United with a hamstring injury that Mourinho now fears will result in a “long” layoff. With Gareth Bale also still recovering from a knee injury, Mourinho intends to rest players against Chelsea but says that more injuries are now inevitable.

After the shortened summer break following ‘Project Restart’, Tottenham have been faced with eight matches in the space of 22 days. “I think Sonny was just the first - more will come,” said Mourinho.

Asked if he would rotate his squad to avoid injuries, Mourinho said: “If you do that, and we are going to do that, we know the consequences of it because not every player is the same. And not every player has the same group dynamic because we have clearly a spine and obviously you lose potential.”

Mourinho has previously won the League Cup four times in his career, but believes that a challenge this season will prove impossible. “I would like to fight for the Carabao [League Cup] but I don't think I can,” he said. “The group phase of the Europa League gives us a certain amount that for a club like us is very important.

“It's a competition with a possible group phase that gives us a good chance to go through to the next knockout stage so this game on Thursday is very important for us.  I think the EFL made a decision for us. They didn't even create a problem - they made a decision for us. So that's the decision.”

According to the figures for the 2019-20 season, qualifying for the group phase of the Europa League was worth £2.3 million to each club but that prize-money could rise depending on how far a club progresses up to £13.8 million for the winners. On top of that, there were also bonuses for wins, draws and finishing top or second in a group. Winning the Europa league also offers a potential route into the 2021-22 Champions League, as Mourinho achieved with Manchester United in 2017.

Mourinho also said that Leyton Orient had been unfairly forced out of the League Cup after being unable to field a team against Tottenham last week following a series of positive Covid-19 tests among their squad. “I think they have to be very, very upset,” said Mourinho. “I don't think they did anything wrong. I think they deserve to play against us.”