Chelsea will not be distracted by the possibility of enjoying an unbeaten league season with José Mourinho prepared to risk defeat in tight matches in pursuit of the victories which could win the club a first Premier League title in four years.
The leaders are currently enjoying their best ever start to a campaign and host Tottenham Hotspur, who have not won at Stamford Bridge since 1990, on Wednesday hoping to extend their run to 21 games undefeated this term and 23 in all. Mourinho has consistently stated he does not expect to emulate the achievement of Arsenal’s “Invincibles” of a decade ago in surviving the entire season unscathed and reiterated that conviction on the eve of the London derby with Spurs.
Instead, he will urge his players to be bold even if contests are tied in their latter stages with the manager aware that even draws can prove wasteful. “The first thing is that I don’t think it’s possible [to go unbeaten all season],” said Mourinho. “The other thing is we are not playing for that. Because, if you play for that and that is one of your objectives, maybe you draw too many matches because you don’t take risks to try and win matches.
“You are happy just to be undefeated. If you get 10 draws, you get 10 points. If you win five and lose five, you make 15 points. I’d prefer 15 points and lost matches than 10 points and be undefeated.
“But we aren’t focusing on that. We don’t. If against Tottenham we are 0-0 with 20 minutes to go, we are not going to play for the 0-0 to be undefeated after 21 matches. No way. We are going to play matches to win. And, as a result, sometimes we will lose.”
Arsène Wenger’s undefeated title winners in 2003-04 drew 12 games in accruing their 90 points that term. Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge prior to the following season and his team accumulated 95 points, losing once, to reclaim the title for the first time in half a century. The following year his team managed 91 in retaining the championship, and arguably the 11 draws endured in his third year ensured Chelsea trailed in second.
Mourinho’s side have yet to shed a point at home this season, but their preparations for this game have been hampered. Their journey home from Sunderland on Saturday evening was disrupted by fog in the north-east which forced them to return by coach and prompted a rethink in terms of their recovery before the Spurs game. Chelsea will be without their suspended leading scorer, Diego Costa, who picked up his fifth yellow card of the season on Wearside, and will choose between Didier Drogba – who terrorised Tottenham in his last appearance against them, a 5-1 FA Cup semi-final success in 2012 – and Loïc Rémy up front.