Jose Mourinho has said that he is expecting a tough match when Chelsea take on last season's Championship winner Leicester City this weekend.
The manager also discussed the club's goalkeeper situation, as well as the transfer window.
Read what he had to say below:
Good afternoon. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is due to speak to the press ahead of tomorrow's match against Leicester City in around 15 minutes.
Mourinho's side made a strong start to the new Premier League season earlier this week against top flight newcomers Burnley, beating Sean Dyche's side 3-1 at Turf Moor on Monday.
The opening match of the season saw a debut Premier League goal for Diego Costa, Didier Drogba make his second debut for the club and Thibaut Courtois oust Petr Cech in the starting lineup. Mourinho has insisted that Courtois is not necessarily his first-choice keeper, and that he simply preferred him for that game, but he'll surely face questions about the keepers again today.
The Special One took a few minutes out from preparations for this match yesterday to take part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. If you've not seen if yet, here's a snippet from Chelsea's Twitter feed:
Jose Mourinho accepts the #ALSIceBucketChallenge from Didier Drogba and Lebo Mohuba... https://t.co/N9OUUl1Uc1
— Chelsea FC (@chelseafc) August 21, 2014
Chelsea should have a similar squad available for this match, the team have not announced any new signings since Monday, and there has been no injury news.
The fixtures will start to get a bit tougher on paper for Chelsea after this weekend, with Everton, Manchester City and Arsenal coming up in their next five Premier League matches.
Right then, Mourinho is ready to address the media...
Mourinho starts with the goalkeeping situation, telling reporters: "Petr is a top professional, he's been working as always. His behaviour has been fantastic."
Reflecting on Monday's 3-1 win at Turf Moor, Mourinho says: "If you play at the top of your game, like we did for periods at Burnley, we have a good chance to win."
Attention quickly turns the transfer window, with Mourinho saying: "We are clam in the transfer market. My club did a fantastic job. We are calm. For us, there us no tick tocking of the transfer clock."
Chelsea assistant Dermot Drummy has been linked with the managerial vacancy at Crystal Palace, and Mourinho says: "I want to respect Dermot. Every time a job opens there's always lots of candidates. I hope Tony Pulis can come back quickly. I hope Palace makes the right choice for them."
As focus turns to tomorrow's opponent, Mourinho admits that he is expecting a tough match against the side which held Everton to a 2-2 draw last weekend: "It's difficult playing newly-promoted teams, they know every point is important."
INJURY UPDATE: Mourinho confirms that he has no fresh injury concerns for the visit of the Foxes.
Mourinho is asked whether it is difficult to keep all of his players happy. He replies: "It's easier if you win. If you play one match a week its easier for the players to feel there is first and second choice players. Its different when there's three games a week. We have to think about the players and the players deserve respect. The club is the most important, then the team, then the players, but if you make it good for the club, team and players, that's the perfect scenario."
Mourinho keeps it nice and short this week, as he exits the press conference after a little over 10 minutes. From what he said, Chelsea are expecting to have to fight for a win against Leicester. Mourinho's comments on Petr Cech were also interesting, could he be hinting that the veteran Czech is in line for a recall? We'll find out tomorrow.
Well that's all from this press conference, but stick around to hear from Brendan Rodgers and Louis van Gaal this afternoon, and join us again tomorrow to find out how Chelsea get on against Leicester. Until then, thanks for joining me this afternoon, goodbye.
