Rafael Benitez is confident he and his players can ignore all the distractions facing Chelsea and just concentrate on beating Middlesbrough in the FA Cup tonight.
The interim Blues chief has been at the centre of a media storm ever since he took up the reigns following Robert di Matteo's sacking and there have been reports of a training-ground bust-up with skipper John Terry and others this week – which the Spaniard has played down as 'normal talk'.
Fans at Stamford Bridge have hardly welcomed his arrival, while form has been patchy with 13 points out of a possible 24 dropped this year and they have slipped to fourth in the Premier League. They have won just six in 15 in all competitions.
However, victory over Boro would take Blues into the last eight of the FA Cup and give Benitez a chance to lock horns with Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.
And he insists he has no problem focusing on the job in hand.
'You are professional and you know, more or less, how things are going here in terms of what happens if you lose or win, but I have to do my job, which is to beat Middlesbrough,' he said.
'Me and my staff have been working really hard at 100 per cent to get the right balance and right team on the pitch.
'The players know how hard we are working, that is the main thing.
'They are clever enough and realise they will be here with long contracts, so they have to perform and be ready if they want to stay at the maximum level, for example, in the Champions League.'
~Metro » Football | Metro UK~Read more... http://www.chelseamashup.com/2013/02/27/rafael-benitez-forget-the-distractions-at-chelsea-lets-just-beat-middlesbrough-in-the-fa-cup/
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