Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has admitted that his side will have to grind out results in the coming weeks as they’ll face sides who are directly challenging for the title.
Chelsea beat Stoke City on Saturday but weren’t at their best and that has been the story since February as their players look jaded. With back to back games against Manchester United and Arsenal coming up in the middle of this month, Mourinho believes his side will stay strong together and cross the line.
Mourinho said, a This is a difficult moment. But ita s a difficult moment that we can handle. We are ready to play, we are ready to fight, to suffer together.a
a We believe in ourselves.a he added. a We have strong mentalities. We try to cope with the difficult moments we have during the whole season.
a We are ready for everything and we believe that the most difficult job is the job of the others that come from behind. Because the others, if they draw one game, they are in trouble. They have to win every game so ita s more difficult for them than for us.”
Mourinho also commented about Cesc Fabregas’ situation as many feel the Spaniard is out of form. The 27-year old was the best playmaker in the first half of the season as he provided 12 assists. In the second half of the season, he has looked subdued and his assists count so far has been just five from 12 games. Over the years, Fabregas’ performance levels have dipped in the second half of the season if one notices the stats. However, Mourinho provided an alternate theory as to why Fabregas’ numbers have dropped since January and also added that he never had any doubt about his contribution to the team.
The Portuguese said, a When some people write that Fabregas has dropped his level because the number of assists are not the same, the number of assists are probably not the same because the player that he assists doesna t score.
a I think hea s playing wonderfully well for us. Ia ve never had doubts about his importance for us in the team.”
Chelsea are seven points clear of their next immediate rivals at the moment who happen to be Arsenal. Although they have a game in hand and are unbeaten under Mourinho against Arsenal, there is a sense that the title race could yet take a drastic turn in the coming weeks considering Arsenal’s and Manchester United’s good form.