Mourinho hints Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and Eden Hazard are untouchable

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has backed his starting selection during the 5-3 defeat at Tottenham on 1 January, because the trio formed by Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard is untouchable.

The three Chelsea stars have started every single Premier League game this season when they have been available - Matic and Fabregas missed one match each due to suspension, while the Belgian star has started the first 20 games of the campaign.

Mourinho recently claimed he was expected to rotate players during the busy Christmas period in order to have the squad fresh, and made three changes at White Hart Lane with Oscar, Cesar Azpilicueta and Willian returning to the starting XI after being replaced by Obi Mikel, Filipe Luis and Andre Schurrle's in the previous game at Southampton.

However, Matic, Fabregas and Hazard have started the three games in the last week against West Ham, Southampton and Spurs, with the Blues securing only four points.

When asked about his decision Mourinho said: "We did what everybody else did, which is rotate two or three players."

"You have squads but at the end of the day you have players that give a certain kind of performance that you trust and you know they're going to give you – people like Fabregas, Matic and Hazard. It's normal," he said, according to Chelsea official website.

In this sense the Portuguese boss lavished praise once again on Hazard, who was a threat for the Tottenham defenders, creating the opener for Diego Costa and scoring a goal.

"People in love with football in this country must be in love with Eden Hazard. The way match after match he is being punished by opponents and not being protected by referees, maybe one day we don't have Eden Hazard [in this country]."

"It's one, two, three, four, five, 10 fouls, aggressive fouls. They kick and kick and kick, and the kid resists because he is a fantastic kid, strong physically and he is very honest in the way he plays, but I think this is another problem."