Chelsea’s Fabregas denies reports of rift with Mourinho

REUTERS – Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has denied suggestions of a rift with manager Jose Mourinho, accusing “certain individuals from outside” of trying to destabilise the club and refuting reports that he is leading an alleged dressing-room revolt.

The BBC claimed this week that it had information of a Chelsea first-team player who would “rather lose than win” for the manager and, on Tuesday, a football blog named Fabregas as the player leading a revolt against Mourinho.

“I would like to clarify that contrary to a few reports form some online websites, I am extremely happy at Chelsea and have an excellent relationship with the manager,” Fabregas wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

“There maybe certain individuals from the outside trying to destabilise this club but I strongly believe that we will bounce back and come good again.”

The midfielder, who was instrumental in Chelsea’s domestic double last season, when they won the League Cup and the Premier League title, was dropped from the starting line-up for the 3-1 defeat by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and came on as a substitute in the second half.

Chelsea have lost six of their opening 11 Premier League games and are 15th in the table, but Mourinho’s problems this season have not been confined to the playing field.

The 52-year-old was handed a one-match stadium ban and fined 40,000 pounds ($61,640) by the English Football Association (FA) for comments made to the referee during the 2-1 loss to West Ham United on Oct. 24 and is also currently appealing a 50,000 pound fine imposed for criticising referees.

Chelsea take on Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Wednesday. A defeat would further ratchet up the pressure on the Portuguese, who signed a new four-year contract in August.

($1 = 0.6489 pounds)

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)