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Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho has declared that one of his players, Willian is definitely ruled out of the London derby between Chelsea and Arsenal because of the muscular injury he picked up against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Late decisions will be made on three more players – Oscar, Pedro and Falcao. ‘I select every player for the squad because we have doubts. Tomorrow I don’t want to be in a situation where during the warm-up somebody doesn’t have the best feelings, and we have lots of players in this situation. Willian is not even an option. Pedro, Falcao and Oscar – let’s see what happens. They are not definitely ruled out but let’s see,” he said.

He also declared that he has no interest in looking at the bigger picture or factoring history into the equation when Arsenal visit Stamford Bridge tomorrow. The manager explained to those present at his pre-match media conference at Cobham why he felt it was irrelevant analysing the match as anything more than that – simply another match of football. League tables, form, precedent and the like should be ignored. ‘I want to isolate the match from every context,’ stressed Mourinho. Our fantastic record against Arsenal doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter they haven’t beaten Chelsea for seven matches in the Premier League. It doesn’t matter they beat us in the Community Shield. It’s just Chelsea against Arsenal. It’s a match we want to win. If it’s a pre-season friendly match it’s the same, I want to win.

‘If we are looking at the table at the moment and we see where we are, and we know the distance we are from the top of the league, I don’t think that helps us. Playing in different competitions is helping us because at the moment we are doing that. It’s easier to forget one competition and focus on one match, and the match is Arsenal. One match. Now it’s Arsenal. Just that, nothing more.’

Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says his side have no cheap excuses regarding a lack of preparation time for today’s game at Chelsea. Their Premier League game at Stamford Bridge kicks off at 12:45. The Gunners were beaten in Croatia by Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday, the same day the Blues beat Maccabi Tel Aviv at home. “I don’t use that as an excuse,” said Wenger. “I believe we are in a position where we can perform.”

Wenger made six changes in Zagreb as he dropped keeper Petr Cech, left-back Nacho Monreal, midfielder Francis Coquelin and forward Theo Walcott to the bench, while midfielder Aaron Ramsey and right-back Hector Bellerin were not in the squad. Ramsey and Bellerin are back in contention to play Chelsea, while Wenger says he has yet to decide whether Olivier Giroud, who was sent off in Croatia, or Walcott will start. “I stand up for my selection and take responsibility for it,” added the Frenchman. “I believe we can repair what happened. We are on a good run in the Premier League and it is important now to look at that. Every defeat hurts but every defeat is also an opportunity to respond in a very strong way.”