Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho leaves Gary Cahill out of Derby County clash and plays Kurt Zouma

Jose Mourinho will withdraw under-fire defender Gary Cahill from his Chelsea starting 11 for the Capital One Cup clash with Derby County on Tuesday 16 December.

The Blues were at the centre of a diving storm on 13 December after the England international, along with teammates Diego Costa and Willian, was accused of simulation in the 2-0 win over Hull City.

While Willian and Costa were booked, Cahill escaped what would have been a second yellow card after going down unchallenged in an incident Tigers boss Steve Bruce described as "like something out of Swan Lake".

"We're going to play against a top team in the Championship," Mourinho told Chelsea TV.

"The difference between a top team in the Championship and the teams of the Premier League are very, very small. We played there last year and it was not an easy game.

"We have no reason to rest people. Everybody goes. The only one that is not going because he played against Sporting [Lisbon] - I never gave him a break - is Cahill.

"Cahill doesn't play, I play [Kurt] Zouma."

Chelsea's frantic fixture schedule will ramp up in the coming weeks. Following Tuesday's clash with Steve McLaren's Derby, the Blues travel to Stoke to begin a run of five games in 14 days between 22 December and 4 January when the club's FA Cup campaign begins against Watford.

Ahead of the festive period, Mourinho has already opted to rest some of his players and insists every member of his squad will be rested at some point in the coming weeks.

"I don't think one player is going to play these six matches," Mourinho said. "Every one of them has to go to five, the ones that play more they have to go to five; one [game] rest I think I have to give them.

"We did that against Sporting, we gave a rest to some players and we're going to do this from now until the end of the month."