Jose Mourinho claims Tottenham have it easy ahead of Chelsea clash

JOSE MOURINHO refused to speak to Mauricio Pochettino after Spurs thrashed Chelsea 5-3 on New Year's Day - but this time round he has delivered a sideswipe at the Tottenham manager.

Tottenham v Chelsea - Premier League preview

Mourinho is adamant that Pochettino has been able to build an increasingly impressive team and blood young players because the spotlight has not been on him - unlike himself at Chelsea.

"There is no pressure on Tottenham, like there is on the other four or five top teams, to reach important positions," said Mourinho. "They have great conditions to do the magnificent work they are doing.

"Nobody speaks about them as title contenders like they speak about City or United. They lose a couple of matches and nothing happens. They are in the Europa League, in the group phase and no one cares about that at that stage.

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?