It's been a big few days for Chelsea, how have the players reacted to the news that Roman Abramovich is selling the club?
“We had a briefing from Petr (Cech) after the Luton match. He gave everyone in the building a quick brief, explained the situation – it wasn't too much different to what we already knew.
"We have to live with this situation and it does not make sense to worry too much. We don’t have a lot of influence, not to say no influence at all, but that was the bottom line.
"We are allowed to focus on football and we do our best to focus on football. It was not only the team [who Cech spoke to], it was the complete staff.
"What we try to do is to create an atmosphere where you feel safe once you enter the building, where you feel calm because we do this on a daily basis. This can help now to deal with the situation. There is uncertainty, of course, and all humans – there are 100 people in the building – everybody will feel different about it.
"Some will feel scared, some excited, some will feel sad. I think everything is allowed for every individual but we can and should allow ourselves to focus on what we love the most and this is football and to perform the best way possible.
"What makes me very positive is we did twice in these circumstances against Liverpool and against Luton Town; very focused, very good performances. The organisation was like always: spot on.
"This makes me very positive that we are able to compete tomorrow. This is also what we demand from ourselves.”
What is Marina Granovskaia's future at Chelsea and do you hope the chain of command remains the same?
“I will not comment on any speculation. My communication with Petr and Marina was excellent from day one. Marina is ill at the moment, otherwise, she would have been here and briefed everybody.
"I hope we can [keep the chain of command and there is no doubt this will continue for the next days, weeks, months. I don’t know what time. I hope it stays on the same level, hopefully with the same person.
"If not, okay, we need to adapt. It seems we have to adapt on a daily basis to new situations.”
Does this impact your future at Chelsea, would you have a problem staying?
“No. The opposite of problems staying. I said many times I love working in Premier League. I love to be in England and feel the tradition and love for sports in general and football in particular. It's an amazing place to be. Chelsea, for me, is a perfect fit.
"I love to be here. I love everything about the club. Hopefully, it continues. There is not an uncertainty, but isn’t it always as a football manager? I am used and trained to live with it.
"Of course, different levels and this is quite a level I have to be honest. I am positive, I hope things will end well.”
Has the potential sale put summer transfer plans on hold?
“Yes, but to be very honest, there are no talks about summer, not with Marina or Petr. It’s simply too early. There are always ideas and reflections on the subject but the main focus was on the last weeks, even without the noise.
"In the different competitions, we want to be as successful as we can only be and to bring out the best in our team where we had some work to do. Still have work to do to constantly improve.
"We are in a good place at the moment. I feel the team again growing, getting better and better. No worries in this particular case until summer, it’s still a long way to go.”
What's the latest team news ahead of Burnley?
“No fresh injuries. I still have to talk to the fitness coaches and doctors after this press conference. Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta) was not in training yesterday so this will be a bit too close unfortunately for him.
"Hakim (Ziyech) was in training, seemed good so hopefully he can come back. Reece James did training yesterday so no problems so far, no reactions after his two matches. It’s good.
"The guys who were not with us in Luton Town because minor injuries – Trevoh (Chalobah) and Thiago (Silva) – were back in training yesterday and seem good to go.”
You spoke in the summer about unlocking Ruben Loftus-Cheek's full potential, could that be as a centre-back after his performance in midweek?
“It would not be the first time where a situation like this is the foundation for somebody finding a new position in the squad. He did very well in the middle of the back three after a shy start, he grew into the match and found his top performance on this day which helped us a lot.
"Still, I think what he did in the last 25 minutes as a single six, this is his best position to have the most influence because he can impose his dribbling, driving with the ball, and physicality higher up the pitch. He did very well.
"We were open before the match, we told everybody we had players in some positions they do not prefer like Callum (Hudson-Odoi) as a wing-back and like Ruben. We need them and we need them right now. It’s the moment to step up and not be too angry or disappointed about the last week.
"This was the moment to show true team spirit and give the very best in an unfamiliar position and they did. I was very happy with the way we won and how we played the game. I did not over-expect performance-wise with a fancy game. What we did was very good from the mental aspect, it showed true character. That’s why I am very happy about it.”’
Is it natural that the news of the sale will affect players and could that rerail your season?
“It can affect. and we should not say it has no effect. I think we should be careful of already giving an outlook on a general effect. We have 80 people in the building, 80 different life situations, 80 different characters. They will handle the situation differently.
"We have the chance in Cobham to give everybody the freedom to react to the situation how he wants, how it is good for him to speak about it, not speak about it, to be open or just go on. In the end, it still influences everybody in a positive way to focus on sport.
"We proved it already twice in the last two games so right now there are not too many reasons why we should not be able to do it a third time, fourth time, and fifth time. Let’s see how the situation evolves and continues. Right now I am positive we can be competitive tomorrow.”
Can a potential sale impact the futures of those players out of contract in the summer?
“Of course, that’s a situation. Maybe the bottom line is we cannot help it. It is what it is. You never know, maybe it has a positive effect on the negotiation. Maybe it has a negative effect. We cannot predict. I would not like to predict or start predicting all scenarios because we just lose focus on it.
"As I said, everybody has a different situation and feels different. I hope for the best outcome. Still, I think we have something to offer. Still, I think Chelsea is a strong club and will stay a strong club.
"Our owner decided to sell the club and he sells a strong, solid, and very well organised club at the highest level.”
Can the next Chelsea owner ever be as successful as Roman Abramovich?
“We will see. Let’s speak in the next 20 years. Whoever buys Chelsea is lucky to have it.”
How do you sum up Roman Abramovich's tenure as owner?
“Exceptional. It speaks for itself. He was and is a very passionate owner who cares actually about the team, the club, about the performance. Personally, it is very rare and makes it very special.”’
What did Petr Cech say in the briefing, did he give you any assurances?
“No insurances because how could he? How could anybody? He cannot predict the future, nobody can. Maybe it was more like the bottom line that we can allow ourselves to keep on going and do what we did over the last days, focus on sports. We are employees and are right now still very privileged. That was more or less the message.”
Nice to get back to Premier League football?
“Yes, and actually it took me some minutes to find the answers to the last two or three Premier League matches. It’s a very weird situation. We played two or three matches in the last six or seven weeks in the Premier League. Normally you have a feeling for the competition and have a feeling for where are we.
"We are on a good run, a good run of results but you don’t see it on the table because we never got the points on the table because it was Club World Cup, Carabao Cup then FA Cup. A bit strange but still we are in a good place in the table and we have to fight hard to stay where we are and to give our very best.
"Tough game coming at Burnley. We think we know very well what is coming. There will be no presents for us there. We want to dig in and accept the fight.”
Burnley, they will give you a very different challenge to Liverpool or Man City?
“Very different, fair enough. Every team has its style. They have had huge success throughout the years, very consistent in what they are doing and how they approach the games. It is very physical and very direct. It’s very direct upfront. A lot of crosses, very dangerous in set-pieces. That’s why we think we know what is coming.
"Still, we hold ourselves back and don’t allow too much to predict. Who knows exactly what is coming? In the end, it is to enable the players to find answers on the pitch and not today in the meeting. To prepare, yes, but in the end, they need to find the solutions and be well prepared in a very wide range of opportunities.
"I think we played a very good match [at home to Burnley] and we had a look into it; how we did it, how we created chances. We created a lot but struggled to score the second and third goal to decide the match.
"We were punished in the end with a very typical Burnley goal which we could not defend. That’s more or less the story. Performance-wise, very happy. Results-wise, we are looking for a better outcome tomorrow.”
Are you happy you managed to win the Club World Cup to complete the set of trophies under Roman Abramovich?
“Very happy we could give him this and win it for him. At least we closed this cycle for him and for his effort and his passion and commitment to the club. It was good timing on this matter.”
What will you tell the players ahead of tomorrow's game, will there be an onus on those who didn't play against Luton repaying those that did?
“I don’t know yet but I won’t have this speech exactly. If you're on the bench, you could feel the guys who played a lot before you and you could so easily come to the feeling the game against Liverpool was more important than against Luton.
"It is so easy to go down this road in your mindset. Then you have players at home texting you, ‘have a good match’, you feel they are in touch, watching, and that before the match they are committed.
"You don't see the guys saying, ‘let’s see what they can do it because I play usually’. They are involved and fighting and helping, coaching. This is what it takes. They will feel very genuinely that they owe each other because it is a team sport.
"They are also doing it for themselves so there is also to hold the balance between doing it for the team but also, ‘what is in there for me?’ We should not shy from it, there is something for them too.
"When they deliver like this, they fight for their place and for their right to play the next match in Burnley because we could rely on them. This is what they do, this is what they deserve.
"We want everybody to fight together. Even if they struggle in the moment to have the minutes they wish for. We are in a good place. We have the spirit back, the quality back. We have the attitude right in the last matches and we have players back from injury. This is good. This is how it needs to be to reach our level of what we demand of ourselves.”
