CHELSEA MANAGER JOSE Mourinho delivered a cryptic explanation for his refusal to talk to the media before or after last weekend’s game with Manchester City.

Mourinho was conspicuous by his absence from his pre and post-match press conferences for Saturday’s 1-1 draw, which came a day after striker Diego Costa was handed a three-match ban for a stamp on Liverpool’s Emre Can.

A sullen Mourinho was present at his press conference ahead of the visit to Aston Villa, and indicated that his silence around the City clash had been intended to spark a furore.

“If you want you can make a silence very noisy,” Mourinho said. ”It depends on what you [the media] want to do. You know the reason of my silence so it depends on you.”

Asked to reflect on the episode, Mourinho added: “I don’t reflect [on Costa and his refusal to talk] because maybe I’m punished to reflect.”

Mourinho’s men are five points clear of City at the top of the Premier League, but the Portuguese boss — who confirmed that Filipe Luis is injured and Cesc Fabregas is fit for the trip to the Midlands — reckons their lead should be more comfortable.

“I feel the distance could be much bigger,” he said. ”If I’m going to analyse the last five, six, seven matches, we should have a bigger difference.”

Chelsea completed a deadline-day move for winger Juan Cuadrado earlier this week after Andre Schürrle returned to Germany to join Wolfsburg.

And Mourinho expressed satisfaction with Chelsea’s business in the January transfer window.

“It’s not a panic buy, it’s a reaction to Schürrle,” Mourinho insisted. ”He’s [Cuadrado] a player we know for a long, long time. We are happy with our business.

“Schürrle is a player that we like very much but the business was good.”

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