Jose's five-point preview - Burnley

Jose Mourinho's regular, exclusive sit down with Spurs TV - this time coming out fighting in this sticky spell, looking at the positives and praise for Sean Dyche and Burnley ahead of our Premier League clash at Turf Moor on Saturday (5.30pm).

1 - This week

Our usual starting point - how were the players, and was there any good news in terms of team news going into Saturday's match?

Jose: "The good news is that we hate to lose, and we always look to the next match in a positive way. It doesn’t matter about our sadness, doesn’t matter about our number of injuries or fatigue, although that can be a negative influence. Yes, we know how difficult the game is going to be. Yes, we know the game is important. Yes, we know in the game two days after, we have a decisive match in Germany. But we go with everything we have and as I was saying after Wolves and Norwich, the players give everything and my feeling towards them is very, very good. Obviously, I hate to lose, but I have a positive feeling with the players, I believe in them and I believe in this tough match, we are going to fight with everything to win it."

2 - Hugo update

Staying with team news, Jose offered this update on Hugo Lloris, the skipper having missed our last two matches with a groin injury...

Jose: "It's a decision to be made after training, and training is at three o'clock (on Friday). At this moment, if you ask me if I'm expecting positive news and for Hugo to play, I say yes, but I cannot confirm."

3 - Burnley

What did Jose think of Sean Dyche's men ahead of Saturday's Premier League encounter?

Jose: "Burnley and Sean, Sean and Burnley – you almost confuse them because they have been together for so long. They have their profile, they have better moments, worse moments, good runs, bad runs, they always stick together, they always trust each other and they always finish the season the way they always do, without any problems, being stable in the Premier League. In the first match we got them in a period where they were not in a good run of results, plus Kane, Son, Sissoko, they all scored against them. Burnley are in an incredible run of results, six unbeaten, so we get them in a high moment, they didn’t play in midweek, so they are in top condition. We go there to fight and to try to win."

4 - Respect due

Would it be fair to say that Burnley are the most unappreciated team in the Premier League?

Jose: "Not for me, I think we are in a world, not just football, but society in general, in a world of perception, of PR, of social media, maybe they are in a lower profile in relation to that, but they are just happy to do the work they do amazingly well season after season. I don’t think Sean sells himself as well as other managers do, so probably, yes, they are unappreciated, but not by myself, I respect them a lot. I go to Burnley year after year and know how hard they have to work to be in the position they are in."

5 - Staying positive

We're going through a tough spell, no hiding that. Jose is a serial winner - how was he coping?

Jose: "Yes, it’s tough. I keep saying the same thing – what is happening to our club this season isn’t normal. It can happen, but it’s not normal, when you see, again, repeating myself, but the series of injuries the team is having since the beginning of the season, the dimension of the injuries, the time to recover, the importance of the players, it’s not normal. No team is free of it, but it’s not normal to be so unlucky. I look positively and say with all these problems, we all stick together with zero problems between ourselves, with a strong club, with a strong group of people working together, with a strong dressing room. I can imagine that this group, without the problems, in a positive period in a new season, or even in the last period of this season, when I hope we can bring back some players, I can imagine how strong we can be."

Jose continued: "I also look at it as a learning process because it’s the second time I’ve joined a team in mid-season in 20 years of my career, and I’m finding so many similarities with my first experience in Porto. That half of the season was so, so hard for so many reasons. At the same time, it’s an incredible preparation for next season, to know the players, to know what they can do, to know their mentality. If I came to the club in July, I wouldn’t know what Tanganga can do, I wouldn’t know what Skipp can do, I wouldn’t know what Dier is as a midfielder or a centre-back. At the beginning of the season I would probably go through a period that has been now with Giovani Lo Celso, because when I arrived, he was not playing. I arrived and I didn’t believe in him immediately. I arrived and I didn’t understand him immediately. Three or four months later, Giovani is phenomenal, so I could imagine if I came in July, probably between July and November, December, I would again be in a grey area with Giovani. No, next season, I know exactly what Giovani is, and I could give examples and examples. So difficult, yes, but I look to it in a positive way. Again, you see the matches we lost recently, everything small margins. We’ll turn. I believe in the boys."