Jose Mourinho admits Chelsea have a significant advantage in the league but also says that it is a five-way race for the title.
Jose Mourinhoa s Chelsea lead the English Premier League by six points and also have a game in hand, making them the undisputed favourites to win the league. however, the Chelsea manager, who spoke to the press ahead of Sundaya s game against Hull City, said that the Premier League is a five-way race but also admitted that a The Bluesa hold a significant advantage.
When asked about the title race, Mourinho said: a Obviously the fifth- and the fourth-placed teams, they have to overcome not one, not two but three other teams so normally you would say the first three [are left in the title race], but the reality is the distances are so short between two and three, three and four and four and five that I look at them and mathematically I see things as open.a
Chelseaa s closest opponents are Manchester City, who are six points behind the league leaders, followed closely by Arsenal, who are seven points behind and then Manchester United and Liverpool, behind by eight and 10 points respectively. All the four sides have played a game more than Chelsea. When asked about the advantage Chelsea hold, Mourinho was confident in admitting that it is a significant one and Chelsea are confident and capable of holding it till the end.
a We are in front and the advantage is not half a body, the advantage is significant but it is still a long way to go,
a We are there, we are strong, we are confident and we believe in our capacity to stay there until the last match, and the best way to fight against complacency is to know there is a long way to go and there are difficult matches and difficult opponents.a
Mourinho also made a reference to the past, saying that out of the three times Chelsea have won the title in the Premier League era, only one of those occasions was in the past nine years. However, he also pointed out that Chelsea have never been in a situation with this kind of an advantage any of those three times.
a The way we worked last week and the way we worked this week, the players are confident and the normal tendency now is to improve until the end of the season.
a Normally in this period the tendency is to accumulate fatigue and stress and big matches in the Champions League, but our season now has space to work and improve and end the season in a very strong way.a