John Terry believes Chelsea are being ill-treated by officials wary of the Blues' reputation.
Jose Mourinho is adamant there is a "clear campaign" against his side and seethed after a 1-1 draw at Southampton and a 5-3 defeat at Tottenham over the festive period.
Terry thinks referees are being swayed by incidents of diving involving Chelsea's players being highlighted in the media.
The Stamford Bridge captain told london24.com: "There have been a lot of highlights on the television and in the papers as well, which is unfair.
"I think the refs have to come into the games with a clear mind and judge each game as it is. You can't go into a game thinking 'someone did this, someone did that.'
"There are reputations out there, but the referees have got to come into it with a clear mind and I think the last two games we have been denied two clear penalties."
Mourinho, meanwhile, will aim to balance a refreshed team with a winning one when Chelsea host Watford in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
Rather than send his front-line players into battle swiftly after the Spurs loss, Mourinho is likely to rotate his options after an arduous festive schedule.
"Obviously we are going to rest a couple of players. That's normal," he said. "And give a chance to other people to play and to show [what they can do].
"Obviously we want to try to beat Watford, but at the same time we have to analyse the players' condition and make the right decision for them."
Striker Diego Costa and forward Eden Hazard are among the front-line Chelsea players who could be rotated out of the starting XI.
Petr Cech could replace Thibaut Courtois in goal, depending on the severity of the latter's finger injury, while Oscar, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic could also be afforded a rest after the loss at White Hart Lane.
Rather than turn to youth, like Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke or Lewis Baker, Mourinho is planning to field players who have been on the first-team periphery this term.
"I have players from the first-team and players that we need to have in condition to play," Mourinho said. "Hopefully Ramires is getting there step by step. He played 45 minutes [against Tottenham].
"He's a player we need and he's a player we haven't had for the first part of the season. When we had him he was not really ready and finally he looks like he's almost getting there."
Mourinho is still to ascertain the full extent of Courtois' finger problem, but has a more than capable deputy in Cech, who may have played anyway.
The Blues boss added: "[Courtois] has a problem in one of his fingers. Let's see what happens. I don't know [if it's broken]. I didn't ask. I just asked if he could carry on at half-time [at Spurs]."
When Chelsea were unbeaten, eight points clear of Manchester City in the Premier League and apparently cruising, thoughts of some turned to a quadruple quest.
Now, with a championship title battle in full swing, the FA Cup could be deemed a distraction, but Mourinho's approach remains.
"It's impossible to go for one trophy, or two, or three, or four," he said. "It's only possible to go for the next match. And the next match is FA Cup and we want to try to win the FA Cup. Simple as that.
"We don't choose competitions. We choose the next match and the next match is against Watford. And it's an important match. It's a difficult game. It's a good team, one of the best teams in the Championship.
"We have the experience of the difficulties against teams like Bolton, Derby, teams that we played already this season.
"They have a good team. They are fresh. They didn't play this New Year fixture. They will go to try to beat us, so we need to be alert because the game is going to be difficult."