Mourinho urges Blues to tighten title stranglehold

CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho wants his side to consolidate their grip on the Premiership by repeating the commanding form they showed this time last season over the next two months.

Chelsea have a 10-point cushion over Manchester United at the top of the league as they prepare to entertain Wigan at Stamford Bridge, and Mourinho has pinpointed the rest of December and January as crucial as the Blues chase their second successive Premiership title.

Starting with today's visitors, Chelsea have eight Premiership games between now and the end of January, and most are against teams currently in the lower half of the table.

The same two months proved to be a vital period for Mourinho's men last season when they claimed seven wins from eight games and conceded just two goals, against Arsenal at Highbury.

"This is a vital part of the season for us," admitted Mourinho. "Last year we showed special mentality over December and January and we must be ready to do that again this season.

"We did that against Middlesbrough last week when they defended well but we kept on our game, making chance after chance until John Terry got the goal."

There are signs Chelsea have rediscovered their defensive qualities of late, with clean sheets in their last five games three of them in the Premiership.

Mourinho is hoping that kind of defence will form the foundations for a two-month period in which they will face Arsenal, Fulham, Manchester City, Birmingham, West Ham, Sunderland and Charlton.

The Chelsea coach is buoyed by his team's record in both the Premiership and the Champions League, where they have excelled at both ends of the pitch.

He said: "We are top scorers in the Premiership and have conceded the lowest number of goals. No team has conceded less goals than us in the Champions League. We are well prepared for December."

Prior to their goalless draw with Liverpool in their final Group G clash in the Champions League, Chelsea claimed four straight wins.

"We had four wins in a row and four clean sheets," said Mourinho. "The players have shown they have such a strong mentality. At the moment we are achieving what we want to. We are in a good position in the league and we are into the knockout stage of the Champions League."

Mourinho has been boosted by the return of Arjen Robben and praised Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba for defying the pain barrier to play for his club when not fully fit.

Drogba returned from international duty with a minor knee injury but was forced to lead the attack against Middlesbrough last Saturday and Liverpool in midweek because of a rib injury to Argentina striker Hernan Crespo.

Drogba, who is due to play in the African Nations Cup in Egypt next month, only trained for the first time since collecting the injury against Romania a month ago the day before last weekend's win over Middlesbrough and and insists he is still not right.

But Mourinho said: "Didier deserves a special mention. Even though he had not played for 15 days he knew we needed him because of the injury to Hernan Crespo. But he was ready to make himself available because the team needed him.

"Arjen Robben had a good return last Saturday and played well. He will be a big plus for our team."