'Fall-Out Won't Affect Team'  (Sky Sports)

Jose Mourinho insists his disagreement with his medical staff will have no bearing on Chelsea’s Premier League visit to Manchester City on Sunday.

Last season’s champions visit the 2014 winners in the biggest match of the new campaign so far with City already two points clear of the Stamford Bridge side.

The build-up to the game has been totally dominated by the fall-out from Mourinho’s criticism of club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn.

He was furious they went on the pitch in the closing moments of last week’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea to treat Eden Hazard.

Mourinho believes they were too impulsive and branded them ‘naïve’ for acting because the team was already a man down after Thibaut Courtois’ red card and at risk of falling behind.

Since then, a series of medical professionals have backed Carneiro and Fearn and said they acted appropriately because they had a duty of care to a player who appeared to be hurt.

Neither backroom staff member will be on the bench at the Etihad Stadium but Mourinho is adamant their absences will not have any impact on his team.

He said: “If somebody thinks a disagreement between two members of the medical staff and the manager can affect the week, somebody doesn’t have a clue about what football is and about preparation for matches.

“The game is a very emotional space for every one of us. If a player has a bad reaction with a colleague, if a player has a bad reaction towards any member of the staff… Football is football and the match is the match.

“Everything in the match can be different and especially after the meeting I had with my medical department yesterday.

“I got enough feedback to understand the way we are doing things together since two years ago – and the kind of relations we have between all of us – allow us to have this kind of relations.”

Chelsea will travel north without Courtois after an appeal against his dismissal was rejected while Oscar is a doubt with an injury picked up in training.

Mourinho knows the outcome of the meeting between the two title contenders could be crucial in the long run but has played down the importance of it for now.

“The season is very, very long,” he added. “We are speaking about 38 matches, 38 matches is an eternity. It is a marathon that started last week and ends in around 10 months.

“I cannot say it’s crucial, I cannot say it’s decisive, I cannot say it’s very, very, very important but (it is) two title contenders, three points.

“If you can get three and your opponent zero, it’s important. I am not going to say the game is not important but, for sure, I don’t say that the game decides anything for the winner or anything for the loser.”