Chelsea 1-0 Stoke - Mourinho Has Nothing To Lose Against Man City

By Alan Frost /

Jose Mourinho tried to play down the pressure on his side after his side was drawn to play away at Manchester City in the fifth round having overcome Stoke one-nil at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. "It's good. Our priority for the season is to improve, and to improve you need difficult games. We take on the best team twice in fifteen days. We travel to the best stadium, where they smash every team, where they have scored four, five goals against the big teams like Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United." "We have nothing to lose." The Blues boss felt his deserved to win more comfortably than the one-nil score line as Chelsea beat Stoke at Stamford Bridge to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday. "We played a very good game. The one-zero does not reflect the quality and dominance of our game. Sometimes when you play so well you win by a free kick. We had some good movement, some good individual connections, against a very difficult team. I think we played very well." "We should have scored more but we hit the post twice, (Asmir) Begovic showed how good he is. Great shots, interactions, some fantastic saves. The boys played very well. I am happy not just with the victory but with the performance as well." There was praise for new (old) boy Nemanja Matic, who made his second full debut in a Chelsea shirt. "I thought he was very stable, he was very stable with his passing and was physical (in a good way) with Peter Crouch. He benefitted from having Frank Lampard alongside him. he is very comfortable with the ball, his decision making is simple and the team flies when someone makes it so simple." Mourinho also felt sorry that he could not help Juan Mata improve as the Spanish international sealed his move to Manchester United. "We sold Mata because of the economics and also because the player was not happy. I'm sorry for that. I could not make him stronger (as a player). He gave everything and made some important contributions but we couldn't stop him going to United." Chelsea continue into the enxt round of the cup, while Stoke and Mark Hughes are left to focus on Wednesday night's crucial Premier League game away to Sunderland.