LONDON • Jose Mourinho says his Tottenham side will not take second-tier Stoke for granted when they clash in today’s League Cup quarter-final.
The Spurs manager is keen to succeed where several of his predecessors have fallen short in delivering silverware to the club for the first time since the 2008 League Cup.
However, he believes the gap between the Premier League and the Championship is narrower than ever and seventh-placed Stoke will be a tricky opponent to beat.
“Everybody wants the same (to win a trophy),” said Mourinho, who knows all about success in this competition having won it four times, at his virtual press conference yesterday.
“Even the Championship from the last decade, the difference between Championship and Premier League is minimal.
“The teams are very good. They have very good players and very good coaches.
“So even the fact we play Stoke or that Newcastle play Brentford doesn’t give us easier matches than the others.
“It’s a difficult competition to win and we need to win three matches to win it. Against teams who have the same ambitions as we have. But we are going in the direction of what we are saying at the beginning of the season.”
Mourinho, though, is mindful that he needs to rest some players as the Stoke match will be their 25th of the season, with the usual hectic schedule coming up over the Christmas period.
Revealing he intends to rotate his squad at the Britannia Stadium to avoid burnout, the Portuguese said: “I think a mixture. Clearly, some players need to play and deserve to play.
“From the ones that are playing more time, there are others that we don’t have great options but of course, I will try to give a little rest to two or three of them.”
On the appalling state of Stoke’s away dressing room, which Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock recently described as a “pigsty” earlier this month, Mourinho did not want to get into detail but hinted the game’s authorities should look into the condition.
“I was not going to raise the question. You raised that question. But it should not be a question for me,” he told reporters. “It should be a question for the authorities, All the authorities. But not for me.
“I am not going to be the bad guy that is going to make comments about Stoke’s away dressing room.”
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
STOKE V TOTTENHAM
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