Mourinho and Klopp seek League Cup bounce

London (AFP) - Besieged Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp are both in pressing need of a change of fortune going into this week's League Cup fourth-round matches.

Cup holders Chelsea, dealt a fifth Premier League defeat of the season at West Ham United on Saturday, visit Stoke City on Tuesday, while Liverpool, who have drawn all three games since Klopp's appointment, host Bournemouth the following evening.
Chelsea's 2-1 loss at Upton Park was a damaging affair for the league champions, with Nemanja Matic sent off and Mourinho banished to the stands alongside assistant Silvino Louro, and full-back Cesar Azpilicueta says that he and his teammates are itching to make amends.
"We want to play as soon as possible," the Spaniard told Chelsea TV. "We have the game against Stoke.
"We want to get through and our mentality has to be to recover as quick as possible and to get into the next round on Tuesday."
With Chelsea 11 points off the pace in the league and in third place in their Champions League group, the trip to the Britannia Stadium offers an opportunity to sweep talk of crisis from the back pages.

Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta heads the ball during the Champions League match against Dynamo K …

But Mourinho must balance pursuit of victory with the need to avoid over-exerting his players amid a sequence of six games in 19 days that continues on Saturday with a home match against Liverpool.

Klopp was appointed to great fanfare as the successor to Brendan Rodgers, but Sunday's 1-1 home draw with Southampton was Liverpool's third successive stalemate since his arrival.

The German will hope that the tide turns at Anfield on Wednesday and will draw encouragement from the fact that opponents Bournemouth have shipped 10 goals in their last two outings, courtesy of back-to-back 5-1 beatings at the hands of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

- Life after Sherwood -
"We can work with this result," Klopp said after the Southampton game. "We can work with this performance of the team.

Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard (R) takes an unsuccessful shot at goal during the Premier …

"If I sit here and have to say, 'These guys are not ready for fighting,' or what not, then it would be bad news. But everybody saw how ready they are and that's the most important thing."
Following a dreary goalless stalemate in Sunday's Manchester derby at Old Trafford, Manchester City and Manchester United continue their League Cup campaigns on Wednesday.

United entertain second-tier Middlesbrough, while City welcome Crystal Palace to the Etihad Stadium.

Antonio Valencia is a doubt for United after manager Louis van Gaal revealed that the right-sided Ecuadorian player sustained a foot injury against City, which saw him replaced by Matteo Darmian late in the game.