Mourinho’s men have a mountain to climb if they are to qualify for the Champions League next season, as they now sit 14 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United and a furthre three behind current leaders Leicester City, whom they play on Monday. “But we bought some good players and I would have liked to win something”.
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“When I met some Chelsea fans they tell me, “Thank you, you are the first who started to build a fantastic squad”, he said.
One side narrowly escaped relegation last season and the other won the league and that is the only possible reason that Chelsea can be overwhelming favourites at around 11/8 to win at the King Power Stadium while the table-topping Foxes are a remarkable 2/1.
“I can say I wasn’t surprised Chelsea won the league and achieve so many titles”. “I think we are going in a good direction in terms of the performance of individuals and team consistency-but obviously we need results. I think the best way is to work, and to get the opportunities you have, and use the opportunities you have to try to get there”.
“But it wasn’t possible for Eriksson and Abramovich said: ‘OK, you start and we’ll see who we can buy'”.
The question was straightforward, framed around the fact that Claudio Ranieri signed Frank Lampard and brought through John Terry during his time at Stamford Bridge, but the answer strayed beyond those two Chelsea legends and pointed to a wider legacy.
But Ranieri said he bears no grudge as he goes up against his former paymaster today, and says he is proud of what he achieved at Chelsea.
“It was hard because we buy in July and August and we start the Champions League”.
Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez celebrates his hat-trick in the 3-0 win at Swansea.
“The sporting director Trevor Birch told me there is a new owner and I said, “Me and you are the first who go home”.
Chelsea have score just 17 goals all season while Leicester have bagged nearly double, 32. You imagine that when a new owner has arrived, he wants to put his man in. No one said at the beginning of the season Leicester would be first in December.
Should the champions win, however, it will be their first big away win of the season, and give a sense of the campaign starting to right itself: Chelsea coming back to form, Leicester starting to fall.
“Jose never thanked me”, he said. Another would be to finish top four, which would again be a super achievement, but very normal at this moment because the difference of points is very big.
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“But Vardy in the moment is running a lot and it is making the space for other players as well”.
