Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he will not appeal his stadium ban for his side’s crucial game at Stoke City on Saturday – and may even watch the game on his iPad on a street corner in Stoke.

Mourinho was handed a one-match stadium ban following a charge of misconduct after Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham last month, but he has accepted the sanction.

Asked if he would appeal, Mourinho said: "No. The match is tomorrow and I know the result of that appeal already. I decided to give up.

It's stupid to fight a fight that you know you have already lost. I will travel with the players and will stay with them until the moment someone tells me otherwise.”

When asked where he will watch the game, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. Maybe I will sit on the street corner with my iPad watching the game. Maybe I won’t even watch it. Maybe I will follow the live ticker. I don’t know.”

The Portuguese criticised the FA’s decision to ban and fine him £40,000, claiming such severe punishments should be reserved for “moments of aggression”.

“It will not be easy for me to watch the game from somewhere else, as you can imagine,” said Mourinho. “I’ve never been banned from a stadium before. I’m being stopped from doing my work and stadium bans should be associated with something serious, regarding aggression. This stadium ban is related to words, to complaints.

"The referee invited me to his dressing room to discuss the first half. At the moment as the rules stand, stadium bans are open to happening many more times.”

Mourinho confirmed that he will leave all decision-making for the game to his team of assistants and has discussed a range of possible scenarios with them.

“The players know what they have to do. I choose the team, I predict as much as I can the different aspects of the game and I try to prepare them better than ever.

"My assistants will make the decisions for me. We have discussed many different scenarios but football is unpredictable and of course you cannot prepare for everything."

The Chelsea manager confirmed that Radamel Falcao and Thibaut Coutois remain out, but Branislav Ivanovic is available for selection again after an ankle injury picked up on international duty with Serbia.

Chelsea, the reigning champions, are 15th in the Premier League after six losses in the opening 11 matches.

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