With their confidence sky-high after last season’s strong finish in the Premier League and the FA Cup final demolition of Aston Villa, resurgent Arsenal are the pick of many pundits looking for the most likely team to take the title from Chelsea.
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on Friday signed a new four-year contract to stay in charge of the English champions until 2019, the club announced.
The 52-year-old said on www.chelseafc.com: “If the club is happy, I am happy“. They’ve lost more players in this summer’s transfer window – still too small a club to fend off offers from the big four – but, in their underdog fashion, could continue to snake points off the top four.
“I said when I returned here that I have a special feeling for this club and nothing changed”, Mourinho told the club’s website.
– In 2005 Mourinho led Chelsea to their first league title for 50 years with the club retaining the Premier League trophy a year later.
Mourinho’s initial exit from Stamford Bridge came about due to a disagreement with wealthy owner Abramovich, although relations appear to have improved in recent years.
And the sight of Costa limping out of a recent friendly with Barcelona with a hamstring injury, followed by his enforced absence from the Community Shield game, prompted fresh concerns that the former Atletico Madrid star’s problems have not yet gone away.
“I really don’t know, because it depends not just about you, it’s also about the others”, he said. Martinez has said this comment is “illegal” and as accused him of trying to tap up Stones.
Jose Mourinho said today that if Diego Costa can’t go tomorrow versus Swansea, then either Radamel Falcao or Loic Remy will get the starting nod. The 5/1 favourite is Brendan Rodgers, however, I would not be backing him with anybody’s money, let alone my own. The demise of the lumbering target man has had an effect, I am sure, but I remain convinced the modern-day player can, and will, learn to deliver better service into the box.
Minor modifications to a well-oiled machine means the Premier League and League Cup winners will expect more domestic success, while targeting drastic improvement on the continent following last term’s lethargic elimination to Paris Saint-Germain.
“You can have a good season and somebody is better than you”. And I don’t consider that failure.
“It isn’t right that clubs are failing their disabled fans and we need to see real action and improvements this season”.
The three sides have taken different approaches in the way they have gone about their business yet I think all three could reap the rewards.
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“We’ll try to be a good team, and be here in March or April speaking about winning something“.
