Good afternoon! We're just a couple of minutes away from Jose Mourinho's pre-match press conference as he prepares his side for a visit to the Britannia Stadium on Monday.

Following their first defeat of the season, Chelsea bounced back last weekend, beating Hull City 2-0 to keep themselves three points clear at the top of the table. Depending on Manchester City's result this weekend though, Chelsea could slip down a place ahead of this match, although City would need to beat Crystal Palace but four clear goals.

Right then, the manager has just sat down for his media briefing, so let's see what he has to say...

Mourinho starts by insisting that he side has a difficult run of fixtures of the festive period, adding: "Some are lucky to have easier fixtures in this period."

Following their League Cup quarter-final win earlier this week, Chelsea were drawn against Liverpool in the semi-final. When asked about the draw, Mourinho insists: "If you want to win trophies, you have to play against the best, unless you are so lucky all the giants fall."

Eden Hazard has been linked with a new deal in recent weeks, and he confirms that the Belgian is close to penning an extension.

Mourinho is asked about Thierry Henry's decision to retire from football, which was announced earlier this week. He tells reporters: "I'm always very sad when the big players, they stop their career. When I read how words, I'm happy [for him]. I want to thank him for all the great moments he gave us, only one I didn't enjoy was the free kick [Graham] Poll let him take [against Chelsea]."

Mourinho is asked about this week's opponents, and he focuses on in-form summer arrival Bojan, with the manager remembering a previous meeting against the youngster during his time in charge at Inter Milan: "Bojan is the young player that almost killed me with a heart attack, as in the last minute of the 2010 Champions League semi-final he scored. Everyone was looking, only the linesman had his flag up, offside."

INJURY UPDATE: On the subject of squad availability, Mourinho admits that he does not yet know whether Thibaut Courtois will be ready to return, but he is optimistic. Kurt Zouma is alright after clashing heads with Petr Cech earlier this week though, while Didier Drogba is also expected to be ready to go."

That's all from Mourinho this week, so make sure you're back here on Monday evening to see if Chelsea can make sure that they are top of the table at Christmas. Until then, thanks for joining me this afternoon, goodbye.