Stunned Benitez defends team selection

Rafael Benitez defended his decision to make changes for Chelsea’s shock home defeat against QPR.

Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Ashley Cole were among the Blues substitutes at Stamford Bridge, where Shaun Wright-Phillips’ goal gave Rangers the points.

The result was a bitter disappointment for Benitez – and hugely unexpected given that the R’s are bottom of the table and had not won away since November 2011.

But the interim manager insisted: “You can’t carry on with the same players every game.

“If you play the team at the bottom at home you have to trust the players and I thought we would be fine.

“There are two or three players who have been playing many games in the last few weeks or months. We’re trying to manage every game.”

Chelsea dominated for large periods of the match but were unable to find a goal and were then hit with a sucker punch.

Benitez said: “We were doing well but you could see some players were a little bit tired.

“It was not the high tempo we were expecting and in the end we made a mistake.”

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