Chelsea FC vs Crystal Palace preview - Mourinho not speaking on Stones before Palace assignment
Posted Saturday, August 29, 2015 by PA
Jose Mourinho refused to comment on Chelsea's pursuit of John Stones but revealed the Premier League champions had worked on improving their defending this week.
The Blues are understood to have had four bids rejected so far - although Everton refused to confirm the latest reported B£37million 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 on Saturday 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."
Speculation of a Chelsea move for France midfielder Paul Pogba continues as the transfer deadline approaches, but Mourinho again declined to comment.
"I'm not going to do the 'like', 'I would like' of Pogba. He's a Juventus player, I'm the Chelsea manager," added Mourinho, who last week rebuked Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri for commenting on his fondness for Ramires and Oscar.
The Blues have also been linked with China right-back Zhang Linpeng from Guangzhou Evergande, an interest which is understood to be genuine. Once more, Mourinho was silent.
"He is a Guangzhou player, so it's the same story. I don't comment," Mourinho added.
Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew believes the defending champions could be a better team than last season despite a moderate start to the campaign yielding four points from three games.
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."
Chelsea clinched the title on May 3 with a 1-0 defeat of Palace at Stamford Bridge.
History is also against Palace. 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.
"You have to go there and play your best game and hope that you get a result."
Yannick Bolasie is available after missing the midweek cup clash with Shrewsbury 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 against Shrewsbury which forced him out of Australia's forthcoming internationals.
Goalkeeper Julian Speroni (finger) and strikers Marouane Chamakh and Fraizer Campbell (both hamstring) are likely to be absent again.
Pardew says his squad is focused on the match, rather than the closure of the transfer window and the accompanied speculation.
"We don't envisage making too many calls ourselves and that's probably where we are," Pardew added.
"I don't know about players going out. All the players I have here at the moment are focused on what is going to be a difficult game on Saturday."
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