Stoke vs. Chelsea: Jose Mourinho Talks Stadium Ban and More in Pre-Match Presser

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said he may not even watch his side's Saturday away clash with Stoke City because he is banned from the stadium.

Speaking ahead of the match at the Britannia Stadium, the Portuguese manager revealed his anguish at being punished by the Football Association for his half-time antics during October's defeat to West Ham United, which saw him sent to the stands, per BBC Sport.

Mourinho ruled out appealing the ban but stated his belief that his sanction could set a dangerous precedent for the future, per Liam Prenderville in the Mirror:

"

It is not easy and you can imagine how I feel. 

I don’t want to speak about it because I would have to go deeper and into a dimension of the situation. 

One thing is to not be on the bench because the referee told me not to be there against West Ham. 

Nobody told me to leave the stadium. At this moment, I am stopped to not just do my work but stopped to be in a football stadium and do something I love. 

In the future, I think we will have lots of managers with stadium bans because I think it should be related to something very serious. 

This stadium ban is connected to words, complaints. 

I want the game tomorrow to finish.

"

He also revealed his unorthodox plans for how he would follow the match, per BBC Sport's Matt Parratt and Saj Chowdhury: "I have no plans [to watch]. Maybe I sit in the street corner with my iPad. Maybe I don't even watch the game. Maybe, live scores? Results."

Mourinho is no stranger to being sanctioned, and it was famously alleged that he was smuggled into the Chelsea dressing room when serving a UEFA stadium ban for a match against Bayern Munich in his first stint as Blues manager in 2005, per Simon Rice in the Independent.

The 52-year-old ruled out any such subterfuge for the Stoke game, per football writer Miguel Delaney:

Mourinho outlined how he had prepared for a number of scenarios with his coaching staff, including "winning 4-0 at half-time, or losing 4-0 at half-time," and said that he would be responsible for the substitutions made, per Parratt and Chowdhury.

Chelsea need a victory against Stoke City to ease the pressure on them after a woeful start to the season.

The defending Premier League champions have lost six of their 11 matches in 2015-16, leading to questions over how long Mourinho will remain in his job, per Bleacher Report's Dean Jones:

A midweek Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev has eased the pressure slightly, with the Blues putting in a more accomplished performance than has been the norm of late.

Willian scored the winner against the Ukrainian outfit and Mourinho hinted that the Brazilian has often played at a level above much of the rest of the squad this season, per the club's Twitter feed:

Three points against the Potters would be hugely valuable for the Blues, but they will need to put in a much better performance than they did in defeat to Liverpool last time out in the Premier League.

The Chelsea manager confirmed that Branislav Ivanovic is available again for Saturday after an injury, but Radamel Falcao and Thibaut Courtois remain absent:

It will be a strange sight to see the Chelsea dugout without Mourinho on Saturday, but the Blues must put on a decent performance in the absence of their manager.

The win against Dynamo indicated that Chelsea may be set for an upturn in fortunes, but a defeat to Stoke would pile the pressure on even further to the Blues players and their manager.