Jose Mourinho has defended the recent form of Branislav Ivanovic and Eden Hazard, insisting the Belgian remains “the best player in England” ahead of the match with Arsenal.

Hazard has struggled this term to hit the form which got him crowned the Barclays Premier League’s Player of the Season in 2014/15. Ivanovic has also been criticised for his performances this term but Mourinho refused to join in.

“He [Hazard] is the best player in England,” Mourinho’s said on Friday. “As I was saying the other day, because [Wayne] Rooney doesn’t score for three games, it doesn’t mean he is a bad player.
“Eden is the best in this country. The best will be the best again. I don’t know if it’s tomorrow or next week, but one of these days he’ll be man of the match.”

Mourinho added that speculation over Ivanovic’s future at Chelsea was merely “something you [the media] said, not me” as he gave his backing to the 31-year-old and club captain John Terry, who was rested midweek for the UEFA Champions League tie with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“Terry is a player of my total confidence,” Mourinho said. “Because he’s on the bench one game and I take him off at half-time, nothing changes. I don’t know if Terry will start. He is the captain, one of the good faces.

“You don’t see me being critic with him [Ivanovic]. I don’t think the question is for me, I’m not trying to isolate individual players from the context.”



The champions have suffered back-to-back league defeats and are already 11 points behind leaders Manchester City, with Arsenal currently six clear of their London rivals.

Mourinho, however, does not consider beating their biggest rivals as vital to Chelsea’s chances of defending their title, though he accepts three points would be welcome.

Chelsea and Arsenal squads
Chelsea (from): Begovic, Blackman, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Djilobodji, Ivanovic, Rahman, Terry, Zouma, Fabregas, Hazard, Loftus-Cheek, Matic, Mikel, Oscar, Ramires, Traore, Costa, Falcao, Kenedy, Remy.

Arsenal (from): Cech, Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Debuchy, Gabriel, Gibbs, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Arteta, Cazorla, Coquelin, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Ramsey, Campbell, Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott.



“Two seasons ago we won every match against the title contenders and we were not champions, so I think it’s important because somebody winning means somebody loses points. But it’s not crucial,” Mourinho, who confirmed Willian will miss the game through injury, said on Friday.

Arsene Wenger is hopeful that Arsenal can build on their Community Shield success over Jose Mourinho’s side and downplayed the media’s focus on his relationship with his Chelsea counterpart.

“People come to football to watch football, all the rest is a bit secondary,” explained the Arsenal boss, who could still be without Per Mertesacker due to illness. “What you expect from these games is high intensity, full commitment and you want to prepare for that and play with full focus.

“For me what is important is that Arsenal win the game. It can sometimes be a mental block for the players or a team when they do not beat a team, so on that front it was good to win the Community Shield.”

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