Boss forced into change

Roberto Di Matteo has defended his decision to make eight changes against Liverpool and says they lost to the better team.

It was thought that Di Matteo would keep the changes to a minimum as there was still an outside chance that Chelsea could squeeze into the top four through the back door.
However that was not the case and the Italian made big changes from the side that beat Liverpool in the FA Cup Final, obviously with one eye on the Champions League Final, and the Reds ran out 4-1 winners to end all chances Chelsea had of making the top four.
John Terry played, but not very well, as did Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires but all three are suspended against Bayern Munich anyway so it was not a risk.
Di Matteo says he has been forced to rotate his squad due to the heavy workload and believes it is a policy that has worked well so far.
"This was our 19th game in nine weeks," Di Matteo revealed. "We played every three days and only by utilising the squad have we reached the final and won the Cup.
"We used similar players at Arsenal and used the strength of the group. We lost many points during the whole season, so it's not just this game. It's the 37 games so far.
"Liverpool were better than us. They were inspired ? and they scored their goals at the right time."