"Manchester United still stronger than Chelsea" - Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho insists that Manchester United are still 'stronger' than Chelsea, despite his side's nine-point lead over David Moyes' struggling champions in the Barclays Premier League table.

Chelsea host United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with Mourinho's return last summer having inspired the Blues to set up a title fight with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

By contrast, Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement and Moyes' arrival as his replacement has seen Uited struggle and despite winning the league at a canter last season, United's squad is widely considered paper-thin compared with Chelsea's.
But Mourinho was at pains to point out that it is United who are still playing in defence of their crown, and also insisted that their struggles this term are masking the overall strength of the team and club.

When asked at his press conference on Friday morning whether this was Chelsea's biggest match of the season to date, Mourinho said: 'Read the match programme. My notes. On Sunday read it.

'We don't play against a team who are 11 points behind. We play against the champions. We play against Man United.

'The team that looks to be in the most difficult situation is the team that is stronger in that game.'

Mourinho also insisted that his side would struggle to keep pace in the title race with Manuel Pellegrini's free-scoring City side, whose attacking strength has seen them net 99 goals already this season.

Neatly, Mourinho will be chasing his 100th win as a Premier League manager this Sunday.

'I think if you look at the table Man City and Arsenal are the top two,' he said.

'Man City's ammunition makes it very difficult. The way this league is, I think the first objective is to secure top four.'

Mourinho also added that long-term stability was more important to Chelsea than instant success this season.

'We are not desperate to win the title, we are building towards the future,' he added.

'But also we want to keep the stability, Chelsea's DNA of winning. We want to find the transition of Chelsea in the last decade and the next decade.'