José Mourinho believes the Premier League title race will be tight all season and may end in a three-way battle.
The Portuguese takes Manchester United to Chelsea on Sunday with his side in seventh place on 14 points, five behind Manchester City, the leaders. Antonio Conte’s team are two points and two places better off than United. Asked how important beating Chelsea is for his side’s championship prospects, Mourinho said: “You look to the table and the distances are so short. It looks like the team that wins three matches in a row is immediately in the top three or four. And the team that has a bad run for a couple of results, just a couple, goes immediately outside the top four. It looks like it is going to be tight.
“We are in a period where some teams are having easier fixtures. If they win two or three of those easy fixtures and the other ones are playing between them, they share points, like what happened at Liverpool [United drew 0-0] and Tottenham against Liverpool.
“My feeling is it will be close and probably one team that you think is playing for the title in March, probably in May doesn’t finish in the top four.”
City lead Arsenal only on goal difference, with Spurs in third a point back, and Liverpool in fourth place, a further point behind.
Mourinho believes the number of championship contenders will slim down. “Probably not six, probably three,” he said. “Probably during the run somebody will fall a little bit. I am not a gambler but, if I was, I wouldn’t bet a lot on the title or top four because there is a big risk of losing money.”
The 53-year-old trod carefully when pressed for his view of how Conte has started at Chelsea. “I don’t have to analyse their start to the season but, when you look at the table and you see where they are, it cannot be bad,” Mourinho said, before brushing off the return to his former club. “I knew that working in England, staying in the Premier League, I would sooner or later have to play against Chelsea and I would have to go to Stamford Bridge. The computer has decided that I have to go now, so we go.”
Jesse Lingard pointed to United’s unbeaten run of five games as reason for optimism going into the game at Stamford Bridge. “I think our confidence is very high now and we’ll now prepare for the big game on Sunday,” he said, before recalling his strike in the 1-1 draw at Chelsea in last season’s corresponding fixture, which was voted goal of the month for February.
“I enjoyed it last time when I was there and it was nice to be on the scoresheet,” he said. “We drew, though, so hopefully we can get the win this time. We know it’s going to be a tough game against Chelsea but we are mentally prepared for that. We have the confidence now to go on and win every game. Goals and assists are especially key for me this season, so I need to kick on now.”
Lingard scored in United’s 4-1 victory over Fenerbahce on Thursday night at Old Trafford and the forward is content with the manager allowing his attackers more freedom. “The front four players had the licence to go on and play and there was a lot of chopping and changing of positions which I think kept their defenders on their toes,” said Lingard of the win over the Turkish side.
