Chelsea will look to put their Club World Cup disappointment behind them when they clash with rivals Leeds United in the Capital One Cup quarterfinals.
The Blues have hardly had any time to recover from their morale-sapping 1-0 loss to Corinthians in the final of the continental tournament in Japan, and Rafa Benitez will be desperate to see his underperforming side get back to winning ways against Championship side Leeds, a team they share a bitter history with.
"At the moment they are fully committed and training hard," Benitez said. "We are trying to talk with them and explain what we are trying to do.
"They are pleased with the ideas and you can see in training sessions that everybody is doing their best to be in the team.
"If you don't play well or win games for two or three months it becomes difficult, not just for me but for any manager.
"The name of the manager doesn't matter because if you are at a club fighting for trophies, the players will want to win. If you are giving the right message and doing the right things they will support you."
Benitez is likely to rest some of his senior players, with Chelsea still recovering from a long flight from Japan, with Ryan Bertrand likely to come in for Ashley Cole at left-back. John Terry is injured, while Ramires, John Obi Mikel and Gary Cahill are suspended.
"Sometimes I decide to change the team and play different players because we have so many games, and certain players need a rest," the Spaniard said. "You have an opportunity in these type of games.
"Ashley Cole is a fantastic player, he's playing every game and he's doing really well, but after playing so many games, will he be fitter than Ryan Bertrand, who hasn't played as much, is younger and is ready? Each game is different. I'm sure Bertrand will be desperate to play, and maybe he's the strongest player in this position for the game.
"Sometimes you decide on one particular player -- he may not be the biggest name, but maybe he's the best player for the game. It's difficult to find the balance but you have to think about different points of view.
"The problem is that we've been playing every game with almost 11 players, you have to change that, especially at Christmas with a busy schedule, playing the same players all the time."
Goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown and skipper Lee Peltier are doubtful for the clash against Chelsea.
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Expected lineups: Leeds: Kenny; Byram, Lees, Pearce, Drury; Austin, White, Brown; Diouf, Becchio, McCormack.
Chelsea: Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Bertrand; Lampard, Mata; Moses, Oscar, Hazard; Torres.
Prediction: 2-1 to Chelsea
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