Mourinho: Chelsea not giving up on top-four finish

Ranieri said Thursday that he believed Chelsea would still finish in the top four, despite a awful start to the season that sees the reigning champions in 14th place – 17 points behind Leicester and only two above the relegation zone.

After a dismal defeat at home to Bournemouth last weekend, Chelsea have an opportunity to make it successive wins against the league leaders, Leicester City, on Monday and relieve the pressure on Mourinho further.

They’ve also played some of the most aesthetically-pleasing football for a neutral and have a natural gung-ho style; City have scored the most (32) and have conceded 21 from 15 games.

Kante became one of Ranieri’s first buys in July after assistant Steve Walsh convinced the Italian to sign him. Nobody has doubts that he does not forget his time at Chelsea, everybody that is at this club for a certain period of time likes this club.

“Before we lost three points against Bournemouth I was absolutely convinced about finishing fourth in the table and I was convinced about a great December for us. While it is mathetmaticall possibly, we have to try”.

Mourinho believes Ranieri, who he has criticised in the past for his lack of silverware, deserves all the credit and has changed his mind about their ability to win the trophy. I feel embarrassed because I don’t know how to react. Last season you could go player-by-player and say fantastic season, and this season it’s more hard.

‘If we are where we are it’s because we are under-performing and if Leicester is where they are, it’s because manager and players are doing magnificently well’.

The Coventry City winger said in an interview with Sky Sports that Chelsea FC have the quality to recover from their nightmare start – to the extent that they can defend their title this season. “We are growing up, we want to test our team; what we can do this season, this is my personal goal”.

“We need to focus on the league and we need to play like today [against Porto] in the Premier League”.

But a midweek Champions League success against Porto to qualify for the last-16 has renewed some hope.

Mourinho claimed last week he still had the backing of club owner Roman Abramovich, while the board recently gave him the vote of confidence, with the Portuguese coach having brought three league titles to Stamford Bridge during his two spells.