By David Bradford
Happy to be top of the Premiership for Christmas Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho warns that the Blues face some tough matches over the holidays.
There is no one who does not believe that Chelsea deserve to be number one at Christmas having only lost one game so far this season to Newcastle United, yet Mourinho knows there are some difficult matches ahead.
“What we did in the past is not important,” the manager said.
“What’s important is this season and this season we are top of the league since day one and we are there because we are playing really well.
“In my opinion we are the best team, we were the best team until this day. That’s why we are top of the league.
“We start this period of Christmas knowing our fixtures are more difficult than any other ones. Three matches away – Stoke, Southampton and Tottenham – and one match at home against West Ham, who are doing amazingly well this season.
Chelsea captain John Terry also agreed with his boss and thinks that both Manchester City and Manchester United could still pose problems for the Blues and their title aspirations.
“We’re just taking it game by game at the moment,” the Blues skipper told Sky Sports.
“You look at City, they’ve kind of come from nowhere really and Man United are back in the fold as well,”
“With the good teams around us, they can put a run of five or seven games together and all of a sudden they’re back in it.
“It was an important win for us to secure that top spot for Christmas but it’s a long way to go.
“We’ve got a tough game at home against West Ham [on Boxing Day] which was difficult last year.”
Mourinho was delighted with his team’s performance on the night and felt they showed good spirit at the traditionally hostile Britannia.
“Fantastic performance,” he added. “I think these are the matches where the victory means a bit more than three points.
“It means the three points but it means also: feel the right spirit, feel the team, feel the atmosphere, feel what the players are ready to do to try to win the championship.
“I’m really pleased with the victory because we won for sure in one of the most difficult places to win.”
