Chelsea having great season

According to Benítez, the priority is a top-four finish in the Premier League but he still fielded what appeared to be a far stronger team to beat Manchester United 1-0 in the FA Cup on Monday than in the 2-1 defeat against Southampton on Saturday.

Chelsea are in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and their fixture against Rubin Kazan tomorrow will begin a sequence of six matches in 18 days.
Benítez has had little personal support from the Chelsea fans but will hope that this win against Manchester United can represent a turning point in the season.

He made a forceful defence of his record. The race for the top four will be until the end of the season,” he said.
“We’re in the top four with a game in hand. We’re in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the quarter-finals of the Europa League. It’s a great season. It could be even better.

“My priority is the top four and trying to win the next game, in the Europa League. The priority for us is to finish in the top four, we know that, but at a top side you have to win every competition.”

Benítez confirmed that Gary Cahill would be missing for up to three weeks with a knee injury while Ashley Cole limped off clutching a hamstring and is expected to be out for at least two weeks.

With so many important matches looming, Benítez knows that he faces a delicate balancing act with his squad.
“I don’t think our squad is too big but, if we don’t have injuries, we’ll be fine — we have to manage the players we have,” he said.

“Ashley is out for at least two weeks, so, for us, that means two games.”
Benítez also defended the decision to start on Monday with Cole, David Luiz, Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Ramires and Demba Ba after they had all either been rested, unavailable or initially on the bench against Southampton on Saturday.

“Before the international break we played against United, Steaua Bucharest and West Ham,” he said. “We were the best in the world. We lost against Southampton and we’re the worst in the world. You have to have balance. We only had 48 hours between games and don’t have a long squad (in depth). — The Telegraph.