Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez has defended his decision to keep rotating his side as they compete on three fronts late in the season.

The Blues have played more games than any other team in the Premier League this season due to their commitments at the Club World Championship, Champions League, Europa League and the domestic cups.

Benitez told the club's official website: "We talk about rotation policy like it is something strange. I can understand that years ago you wouldn't hear too much about that, but when they talked about my rotation policy, Sir Alex Ferguson was rotating more players than me.

"In a top side, you have to change players because two games a week is not easy. You change one player, you change the team.

"I changed the team 99 times and people were talking about that, and Ferguson was doing it more, 119 times. Jose Mourinho too, doing the same, because they were top teams playing two games a week. Everybody was rotating players."

Chelsea take on Liverpool tomorrow as Benitez comes up against his former team at Anfield.