"This title race? You never know with this league". And then along came Chelsea, curiously underpowered, walking into an afternoon when a collective penny appeared to drop at Old Trafford, when nine months of Mourinho moulding finally shone through. The two at White Hart Lane are against Arsenal and Manchester United.
The BBC had asked Mourinho if he was surprised that Chelsea were leading the league. The delivery of what we might consider the archetypal Mourinho template against Chelsea produced that most necessary of things, the win.
At the Hawthorns, Liverpool playmaker Roberto Firmino settled a scrappy game with a close-range header in first half stoppage-time.
Glaringly, the Blues failed to register a single shot on target in the entire match, something they hadn't done in nearly 10 years.
"(Mourinho) got his tactics spot on and enjoyed a bit of luck, but I don't see that as a template", Souness said.
Hazard and Pedro were marked out of the game by Ander Herrera and Matteo Darmian, while Costa had to wage a lone battle against United's center backs Marcos Rojo and Eric Bailly.
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Mourinho's men completed a morale-boosting 2-0 win against the Blues at Old Trafford when the Portuguese boss outwitted Antonio Conte. "So it was very important and the kid played fantastically well". He will be back sooner rather than later. Because we lost too many points at home. The Belgian is the best attacking weapon in the Premier League and has largely played like it in 2017. Although they have three hard away fixtures (Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal) but if they are able to continue this fine form then they can even barge into the top three.
"Tottenham is in good form and playing with enthusiasm, we must find the same".
The only significant absentees are Harry Winks and Danny Rose. "With the kind of players they have at their disposal, Chelsea should have coped with that", Neville pointed out after the game. What if injury takes one of them away? The Spain global has scored four goals in 13 matches in all competitions since receiving a lucrative offer from Tianjin Quanjian. Cahill sounded dumbfounded that Chelsea had been so effectively stifled. Add that to the returning indiscipline and he is a total passenger. Chelsea can no longer carry anyone.
So this was Chelsea going into their toughest remaining game with three men down, and against a manager for whom this was his cup final.
"Zlatan has been one of the best players in the Premier League this season".
A 2-0 win over his former club yesterday morning (Singapore time) has offered Tottenham a faint hope of closing the gap on the champions-elect.
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