It has been reported that Roman Abramovich has given Jose Mourinho to play a weakened team for the match against Liverpool. With a game against Atletico coming up, for a place in the CL final, Mourinho is to rest his star players. Also, Terry and Hazard should both be fit to play Atletico.

Mourinho has shifted his focus to the champions league with Mikel, Van Ginkel, Cole, Schwarzer, Ba, Kalas, all likely to feature from the start or subs.

Some sources think Christensen, Hiliario and Ake will feature.

Rodgers has said that Liverpool will bring their A Game against Chelsea regardless of their lineup.

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/4/23/5641746/revealed-chelseas-weakened-line-up-for-the-coming-trip-to-anfield

Above is a must read, it doesn't take time just copy and paste it into the search bar.

Read the comments on it too.

Because that was an insult to all Chelsea fans. Of course we'll reply, and usually in a hateful manner. Don't worry man, post what's your thought about this and I'll reply.

Okay, my opinion, is that part of a good team is having good squad depth. I would expect a coach similar to Mourinho to be confident in his future. He has to think about the possibility of Chelsea playing in the quaterfinals, and semifinals during january. He can't complain about it now. The january transfer window is for that reason where a team like arsenal realizes they don't have enough players for the season. That aside, I don't even think that this should be an issue. Who cares about who plays what team. Bayern Munich are are playing their reserve team and barely putting in any effort in the Bundesliga right now. No one is saying anything. So why can't Chelsea?

@messi6511: While you do have a point that Mouinho should have probably expected this sort of situation, can you really say he knew Liverpool were going to battle it with Chelsea for the EPL and that he'll lose Cech, Terry (probably), Hazard (probably), Mikel, and Lampard in the CL Quarters?

Nice to see somebody else agrees on the fact it doesn't matter who we field on Sunday though.

Now you answered yourself. How could Wenger knew that Walcott injury will come and rule him out of the season, then came Wilshere/Ozil's injuries. He couldn't know that. Not signing a striker was our main problem this year and we know it. Mine point is that our players were injured before or after transfer window, so why would he worry about midfielders?
Well for Chelsea was unlucky when Luiz was in both incidents with Cech & Terry.
Mikel and Lampard picked up yellow cards, that's just their fault not anyone else, you can't use that as an excuse
Hazard was simply injured, but not as long as Ramsey/Wilshere/Walcott. Can you imagine playing whole season without him?

Rubbish. Abramovich is not involved in team selection. Chelsea lineup will be full strength, I guarantee it. It will be really pathetic if they just give Liverpool the title without a fight to the end.

@Vendetta I agree, I wouldn't have expected it either, but then again, i am not a coach with 10 years of experience.

@fabryi: The only difference though is the a majority of the injuries you guys got could have been solved by spending in the January transfer window. I'll admit the suspensions are the players' own faults but how does that make Mourinho wrong for picking a weaker side then?

@messi6511: Ten years of experience or not, you never know who is going to hurt himself on the pitch.

Knowing that, can you really blame him for picking a weaker side against Liverpool to try to make it to the CL final (40m euros) or maybe even win it (60m euros)

@V I never said it's wrong idea to use younger (weaker) players against Liverpool. I just said, it is not that unfair as @Eden said.
I get that 60m>40m, but UCL>EPL would sound better. It's just look like you just care about money when you say it in this way :)

Okay now I see what you mean. Then I agree with you, I don't believe it's unfair as well. This happens to all clubs every now and then.

As for the comment about whether I care about the prize money or not, I have to say that's partially true. But wouldn't you agree that you'd want the CL over the EPL?

First of all, the CL is a more prestigious and global tournament. It also features the best of the best. And winning it is tougher and a bigger honor than winning the EPL. It could be different based on someone's perspective though. Liverpool fans might care more about the EPL because they haven't won it in 20 years. Chelsea have one the EPL 4 years ago and many more before, but only the CL once. We also have never won it with Mourinho, so it matters more to us.

Yea, I agree with you. I would take UCL over EPL any time, even IF we got more UCL trophies than EPL, I would still prefer UCL.

@Wolfie. You don't know Abromovich. He is involved in team selection and Mourinho will play an under strength team. Abramovich may even halt the Costa bid because of his admiration for Cavani.

I would rather win the CL than EPL

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/2014/4/23/5641746/revealed-chelseas-weakened-line-up-for-the-coming-trip-to-anfield

Check it out if you haven't

Abramovich may start as a Striker.

@Eden please try to write something here, not just copy & paste links. And please stop liking your own comments every time ;)

lol.

You can call him arrogant. You can call him cocky, but Mourinho is a genius!

@messi6511: I think you make a very good point, there, and Bayern is the perfect example. They are literally coasting their way through their league, and no-one bats an eyelid, just like Barcelona used to coast their way through La Liga for 4 years, using their academy kids whenever they wished to give their senior squad a rest.

I think what people are most annoyed by is the idea that Chelsea could throw out their reserve squad against the Premier League leaders, in the middle of a title race, and expect to get any kind of result. Thus, it's somewhat of an insult to Liverpool, the league and the spirit of competition to just use your reserve team in a game of such importance.

Then again, um, it worked. So...

Maybe it just demonstrates what was said before the start of the season: Chelsea have the best squad depth in the league. Don't forget that this is not the first time Chelsea have sent a 'weak' line-up out against a top rival, this season. One example which springs to mind is the Capitol One Cup tie against Arsenal. Admittedly Arsenal also sent out their reserve team, but the Blues beat them with such ease that it was clear that this squad depth would be an advantage as the season has gone on.

And it has been.

Poor Oscar, a season ago, played 80+ games. This season? I think it's around 40. Why? Because Mourinho likes to beef up his midfield, and has been able to rotate his slots with players the calibre of Matic and Willian (as well as old guard stalwarts like Lampard and Essien), giving him the chance to rest his first-choice starters. Even Hazard has not played so much this year, and looks fresher than his counterparts in the squads of Arsenal and Liverpool.

While I agree that it's pretty damn COCKY to send out that reserve team in a game of such importance, ultimately Mou does have a habit of proving himself right. That's why we all gave him in England the name Special One. Remember when he was predicting the exact date he would win the title, and got it right? It's more of Mou being Mou.

Mind games are not a new thing in this league, and he and SAF respected each other so much for a reason... ;)

@LODATZ Oscar has had a decent amount of game time this seson