Jose's five-point preview - Palace

Jose Mourinho turns his attention to Crystal Palace in the Premier League and a 2.15pm kick-off at Selhurst Park on Sunday...

1 - Zaha and Palace

Jose was asked about in-form Wilfried Zaha and Palace in his press conference post-Antwerp on Thursday evening...

Jose: “I know many things about them, and one of the things is the quality of Zaha. The players, the manager, the coaching staff is basically the same, we know them well, we know how difficult it was for us to get the point there to qualify for the Europa League last season and, for sure, on Sunday they will try to win the match as they always do.”

2 - Palace's threat

Jose was also asked if playing Palace, a team expected to sit back, was more of a gauge of our potential than playing Arsenal at home...

Jose: “Palace defend, but Palace attack. Yes, they defend, yes, they defend with lots of people and experienced people, but they have quality in attack, organised attack, counter attack and set pieces, so they are a team that can threaten in many situations, and the game is going to be globally difficult. But without comparing opposition, because Palace is in another dimension, but West Brom and Burnley were very difficult matches for us, but we managed to win them.”

3 - Selhurst test

Jose agreed that Selhurst Park, Palace away, is always seen as one of the tough away tests in the Premier League...

Jose: “Yes, and 2,000 fans in there is not the same as in here (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium). 2,000 fans in there, I believe that it’s going to be a strong atmosphere and it’s difficult, not just because of that, but because they are a good team.”

4 - ‘The boss’

Jose is full of respect for Palace boss Roy Hodgson...

Jose: “He’s the boss. He’s the oldest one in the Premier League with an incredible career, also international, and it's not very often an English manager does that. Lots of experience, lots of respect I have for him and in this job, experience helps. Everything is deja-vu for a man like him. This is a difficult opponent.”

5 - Rotation

Back to his presser, and Jose was asked, now the Europa League is parked until February, if he would continue to rotate?

Jose: "The Europa League is over now for a couple of months, but now is the accumulation of matches in the Premier League that, to be honest, are more difficult than the Europa League matches because the quality of the teams is higher in the Premier League. We also have a quarter-final (League Cup) to play at Stoke and Stoke is doing so, so well in the Championship. So many matches. Do we need to make rotations? Of course, we need to. It's impossible for a player to play all these matches."