While Stephen Hunt remains deeply upset over Petr Cech’s injury sustained in their “freak accident”, the Reading midfielder is taking everything else thrown at him with a large pinch of salt.

Hunt also admits he started pulling out of tackles following the Chelsea match and was subsequently dropped.

He said: “This was the opportunity to show I can play at this level. I was completely focused. I was ready to go. When it happened — and I stress it was a freak accident — I didn’t realise I had hurt him.

“I looked over my shoulder and there were so many people around him. I didn’t know what to do.

“I could hear their bench — Mourinho in particular — shouting at me. But I could not afford to listen to him. I had my own agenda. I had to get on with the game.

“To be fair to Chelsea’s players, they did not say anything. Mourinho though, straight away, was saying I had gone in there deliberately. That’s up to him. That’s how he felt.
“But I could not afford to go into my shell and even though we lost 1-0, that was probably my best game.

“It was not until the Sunday when I saw on TV that Petr Cech had fractured his skull. I thought ‘Jesus, what do I do?’.