Mourinho - We are the special ones

Jose Mourinho is rabbiting through reasons why he adores his job when he mentions defeat.

‘I like the reaction after defeat,’ says the Chelsea manager, although he might not feel the same if he were in charge of Leicester or Hull.

Mourinho has endured defeat only once in eight months, and since losing at Newcastle his team have produced four straight wins, 10 goals and top the Barclays Premier League by three points.

Jose Mourinho says his side are showing champion qualities after storming start to the season

‘At the same time it’s more beautiful because every point is a point, every game is a game and every weekend is a weekend and emotions from the beginning till the end. We are title contenders. We are one of the best teams. We are the team that plays better football and obviously big opponents, but we are title contenders.’

It is a distinct change of tone from last season when he convinced few people in claiming Chelsea were the ‘little horse’ in a title race with Manchester City and Liverpool. ‘Maybe next year we can win it,’ he said at the time.

Maybe they will. They are in front and his players believe they can do it. Mourinho is not as cocksure as he was on the way to winning his first Premier League title in 2004-05, when he correctly predicted his team would clinch it at Bolton.

Mourinho celebrates Chelsea's championship success with Frank Lampard and John Terry back in 2005

 Mourinho's Chelsea successfully defended the Premier League title in 2005/06