Mourinho free to field weakened team against Reds

Abramovich and his board will not prevent their manager making wholesale changes for the trip to Anfield on Sunday after Mourinho claimed that anything else would jeopardise the club's hopes of reaching the Champions League final.

Mourinho risked outraging his rival managers – particularly Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini – by revealing on Tuesday night his desire not to start any of the same players at Liverpool as will feature in the semi-final second leg against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday.

His press conference after the first leg continued a week of contentious public statements which has led to his being charged last night with misconduct by the Football Association.

In what could prove a landmark case, the Portuguese was accused of calling into question the integrity of referee Mike Dean, as well as Mike Riley, the referees' chief, after the explosive defeat against Sunderland on Saturday. Mourinho used his post-match press conference to offer sarcastic "congratulations" to Dean and Riley, something viewed by the FA as naked attempt to circumvent their rules on criticising officials.

Despite having been fined £8,000 twice this season – he is still challenging the second punishment – Mourinho is unlikely to be banned from the touchline if found guilty, with off-field offences usually sanctioned financially.

The same cannot be said for Mourinho's assistant, Rui Faria, who was charged last night over his attempt to confront Dean following Sunderland's controversial winning goal. Faria was hit with two charges because he also had to be restrained by Mourinho after being ordered from the touchline. He is expected to be banned for several matches.

As is Ramires, the midfielder who was charged by the FA's video review panel with striking Sebastian Larsson in the same game and faces a four-game suspension.

After what has been a wave of disciplinary action against Chelsea in recent weeks, they can at least console themselves that they should avoid punishment if Mourinho carries out his threat to field a "weakened" side against Liverpool.

Three years ago, making such wholesale changes would have landed them with a five-figure fine but the Premier League amended its rules in the summer of 2011 following controversial punishments handed out to Blackpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Clubs are now at liberty to field anyone from their official 25-man squad list, in addition to some under-21 players.

Even with injuries to Petr Cech and John Terry, Mourinho will be able to field 10 members of his 25-man Premier League squad on Sunday – along with one under-21 player – and still keep 11 back for Atletico. Mourinho feels that such drastic action is justified by the Premier League's refusal to switch the game on Sunday, a decision which infuriated both him and the club.

Chelsea made representations to get it moved upon reaching the Champions League semi-finals, something the Premier League would have done automatically had the second leg of that tie been on a Tuesday. Indeed, with the first leg falling on Tuesday, it switched the Sunderland match to a Saturday.

However, it would not budge over the Liverpool fixture once the second leg of the Atletico game was confirmed as being on a Wednesday. (© Daily Telegraph, London)