Jose Mourinho and John Terry both insisted that Chelsea still aren’t favourites for the Premier League crown following a convincing victory over Tottenham.
Captain, Terry led his side to a flattering 4-0 victory over their London rivals as Chelsea extended the gap between themselves and Manchester City to nine points.
Both captain and manager argue that City’s three games in hand and stronger squad means that City are still favourites for the title.
Mourinho admitted he is now confident of Chelsea qualifying for the Champions League, but maintains he would rather be in City’s position.
“I would like to be in City’s position. If they win their matches they are top. If we win our next nine we may not be champions,” he said in his post-match press conference.
“The top four is for us to lose with 13 points from Tottenham. I really don’t believe we are going to lose that.”
Terry, who had little defensive work to do during the rout, echoed his manager’s sentiments.
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"I think we all agree - Manchester City are the strongest side," Terry told Sky Sports. "They've shown that in games they performed, and they've got games in hand as well.
"It's great to have the points on the board at the moment, but for sure they've got a bigger and better squad, a lot of firepower up front. They have a game in the week against Barcelona. If they go out (of the Champions League) it only strengthens their chances.”
Chelsea struggled to gain control of the match in the first half, but a host of defensive errors from the visitors saw the Blues run away with it in the second period.
Terry accepted Spurs had made it difficult early on but praised Jose Mourinho for changing things at half time, as Chelsea came out with more intent after the break.
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He added: "It was not easy, first half. I thought Tottenham had a game plan to stop us playing out from the back which worked.
"The manager made a change at half-time and second half generally we were a lot better. The tempo was a lot better."
"All we can do is keep winning our home games and at times we're not playing at our best but we're still grinding out results and that's very much like the old Mourinho teams."
