Mourinho calls on players to act like men

The blue half of Manchester has had local bragging rights since September 10, when City beat United 2-1 at Old Trafford in a performance that earned widespread praise for a side in the middle of a club-record winning run of 10 games.

Jose Mourinho took exception to Conte trying to whip up the home crowd when Chelsea were 4-0 up against Manchester United on Sunday. “But I have my apps and I can ask for food to also be delivered, which I do sometimes”.

“He might have got 50-odd goals in France last season, but it’s an inferior league to the Premier League and he is proving it this season”. They were second best on the day and sit seventh in the Premier League table, six points behind leaders Manchester City. “I hope we don’t see that again in England”.

“For this reason tomorrow we can see probably some changes”. The United victory is the past.

But since drawing 3-3 in a frenetic Champions League game at Celtic, the early-season certainty has vanished.

Injuries to Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta may leave Guardiola with a problem at right-back, although he could persevere with the three-man defence he used in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton. “Together we win and together we lose”, the Spanish global added.

“For the players who play, we’ll be depending on them to make the best performance possible”.

The round’s other stand-out tie occurs on Tuesday when Liverpool, who lost on penalties to City in last season’s final, and Tottenham Hotspur face off at Anfield.

“I have big experience for these kinds of games; I’ve played all over Europe in similar games, the kind of games, let’s say, where the heat is”.

After his defenders were the target of plenty of criticism in the wake of his side’s 4-0 defeat to Chelsea this past weekend, Mourinho has been busy thinking of ways to solve the mini-crisis he finds himself in.

“I think that everyone must show respect for me, for my work, for my job”, Conte said.

Conte’s priority is to pick a team strong enough to win.

“So we had to give something back, regardless of the result – we could have lost and I would have the same feeling for my players”.

There are concerns over trouble surrounding Chelsea’s clash at the London Stadium. “We must concentrate on Wednesday and another tough game against West Ham”.