Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has accepted that former club Chelsea are the favorites to win the title considering their recent run of form.
The Portuguese manager said that Chelsea’s current run of victories and their ability to churn out important wins will be vital in the long run. United have 30 points from 17 games this season. They were unbeaten in last eight games in the league since the 4-0 drubbing to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Reds are 13 points behind Chelsea in the standings, the league leaders being six points clear of the second-placed Liverpool. Current state of the table has triggered Mourinho to accept Chelsea’s dominance.
“You have to be honest and say that is very difficult. It’s not just the difference in points, it’s also the Chelsea philosophy of playing,” he told British media while answering to his side’s title chances.
Mourinho felt Blues’ resolute defending and no-nonsense style of playing has been their main strength. “They score one goal and they win. They defend a lot. Chelsea defends well … They don’t care what people say, what people think. They just want to win. And, because of that, I don’t see them losing many points.” the special one added.
Three straight wins has seen United close the gap to fourth-placed Arsenal within four points but Mourinho wasn’t ready to predict where his side might finish.”Let’s see where we finish. I don’t want to say fourth, because I think we can do better than fourth,” he added.
“But we have the risk of not finishing fourth because the competition is so hard and the top teams have the same ambitions as we have. So I don’t want to say fourth or third or fifth,” was his take on the increasing competitiveness of the league.
Manchester United are set to host relegation-threatened Sunderland in late kick-off in the Premier League on Monday.
