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| Jose Mourinho is under huge pressure to get a result against Porto in the Champions League |
JOSE MOURINHO faces the task of lifting a shattered squad for the most important game of his Chelsea career on Wednesday.
Mourinho
took training yesterday as usual but is under huge pressure to get a
result on Wednesday, when Chelsea need a draw against his old club Porto
to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
If
Chelsea go out there would be enormous pressure on Mourinho, who saw
his side slip to a new low on Saturday as they crashed 1-0 at home to
newly promoted Bournemouth in their eighth loss of the season.
Missing
out on the later stages of the Champions League could cost the club
around £40million, and with Mourinho's admission that after the
Bournemouth result the top four may be out reach, owner Roman
Abramovich's patience would possibly be tested too far.
Chelsea will spend in January, despite Mourinho's insistence on Saturday that he will not go to the board and ask for reinforcements.
There
is recognition at Stamford Bridge that the squad does need to be
strengthened and two players high on Chelsea's radar are the £30million
Shakhtar Donetsk forward Alex Teixeira, and West Brom striker Saido
Berahino. Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain could also be an option.
Mourinho
is involved in that planning at the moment, but Chelsea will still
spend even if he is gone before the January transfer window opens.
Another target is Everton's England defender John Stones, who they tried and failed to get several times in the summer.
One
boost for the beleaguered manager is that skipper John Terry should
have recovered from an ankle injury picked up in the Champions League
win against Maccabi Tel Aviv to play against Porto.
