Jose Mourinho ready to wield the axe and drop three senior Chelsea stars after dire start

Crisis prevention: Jose Mourinho is ready to take action to stop the rot
Simon Johnson15 September 2015

Jose Mourinho is considering dropping some of his struggling stars as he attempts to get Chelsea’s season back on track against Maccabi Tel Aviv tomorrow night.

Cesc Fabregas, Branislav Ivanovic and Diego Costa all face the axe as Mourinho looks to secure the club’s first win of the campaign at Stamford Bridge.

Many players are lacking form and confidence with Chelsea losing three of their first five League games — the club’s worst start to a top-flight campaign in 29 years.

But Fabregas, Ivanovic and Costa are most under threat as Mourinho tries to relieve some of the pressure by getting a victory in their opening group game of the Champions League.

While Mourinho is also basing selection with Saturday’s derby against Arsenal in mind, it will still be significant if any of the key trio are left out.

Fabregas played in all six of Chelsea’s group games last term, Ivanovic only missed the final match when qualification for the last 16 was already secured, while Costa had to sit out two of the six contests due to injury.

But Mourinho is looking to give them a much needed break tomorrow and use some other members of his squad instead.

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Oscar has recovered from a knee injury and is set to start in place of Fabregas, who has lacked any spark in midfield.

Summer signing Abdul Baba Rahman is set to make his debut after joining from Augsburg for £17.7million and will play at left-back, with Cesar Azpilicueta likely to move across the defence to replace Ivanovic at right-back.

Costa failed to score in the Champions League last season and has only one League goal this term.

Mourinho is looking to bring in Radamel Falcao or Loic Remy to lead the line instead of him.

There has been much speculation surrounding the future of the Chelsea

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