Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has attempted to turn the pressure on Claudio Ranieri, saying Leicester can not fail to qualify for Europe this season after their fine start.
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“Well, first of all they deserve to be where they are”, said Mourinho.
In 2000, Leicester were top of the Premier League in October and fourth by Christmas – only to drop to 13th.
Chelsea come into their game with Leicester having secured a comfortable 2-0 win over Porto in the Champions League – a game in which the Blues looked more like the team that won the league in May.
Mourinho-led club are now languishing down to the 15th spot in league standings and will lock horns with Leicester on December 15.
“It would be something magnificent, something to impress the football world, but sometimes these things can happen”.
He replied: “I think he is unlucky, not me lucky”.
“One year ago, they were bottom of the league, Ranieri was sacked from Greece after losing to the Faeroe Islands, now he’s the top manager in the Premier League, and the players are in the top of the league – this is fantastic”.
Leicester are top but history warns them that surprise packages normally struggle when December comes and goes.
A Leicester win on Monday would mean a 49-point swing in their favour compared to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea after 16 games of the previous campaign.
Bournemouth will be hoping to build on their win at Chelsea by turning up the heat on another manager, Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal who saw his side eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday with defeat at VfL Wolfsburg. It’s a question United boss Louis van Gaal would doubtless like ask, as he has a very different view of the second season he is overviewing at Old Trafford than his critics do.
“If you can give an award for the first six months of competition, everyone is miles away from him and every club is miles away from what Leicester is doing. It does not always happen, but for me as a coach, it is fantastic”.
Mourinho added that Chelsea’s poor results have made him “embarrassed” and unsure how to respond when fans chant his name.
For more from Wes Morgan, tune in to Soccer Saturday from 12noon on Sky Sports News HQ and watch Leicester v Chelsea from 7pm on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports 1.
It makes a difference from 2010, when Mourinho said Ranieri was “considered a loser” at Chelsea for failing to win any silverware in his 3 1/2 years at Stamford Bridge.
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Nevertheless, regardless of the recent drought against Mourinho’s team, the undoubted storyline of the game is Claudio Ranieri’s reunion with the club he served for four years.
