Fri 20 November 2020, 18:50
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho looks ahead to our huge Premier League match against Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday (5.30pm).
1 - Team news
Jose gave an injury update in his press conference on Friday...
Jose: "Steven Bergwijn went to the international team injured. He was not involved in our match against West Brom, not even on the bench, because that week he was injured. Even so, he reported to the national team, they had their medical team analysing him and they decided they didn’t want to keep him there, because he wouldn’t be ready for the next match. So he stayed here for the last two weeks, and in that time he has managed to recover, and he’s ready for tomorrow. Harry Winks arrived (back from international duty) with a little problem. Erik Lamela is still in the last period of his recovery. Apart from that, no problems."
2- City
What did Jose make of City at the moment?
Jose: “I see a team that wants to win every title, wants to win every game, year after year after year. Amazing coach, amazing players, incredible investment. Their objectives never change. They are a top, top team.”
3 - Every moment counts
We did it in February - what does it take to beat this City side?
Jose: “You have to play very well, it’s as simple as that. And to play very well is to be very good in every moment of the game, to be very good with the ball and without the ball. Basically, it’s the kind of opponent if you don’t do it for 90 minutes, you don’t win. If you don’t it in certain aspects of the game, you don’t win. You have to perform at a high level. We can.”
4 - Nine months on...
As we mentioned, we toppled City 2-0 in February - what has changed since then?
Jose: “We are a better team, and City too. It's one more year of Pep, one more year of these players working with a fantastic coach. Last season, probably in that moment, they knew they wouldn't be champions. Now they don't know that, now they are in the fight, and when people look to the table and see they're 11th, that's not right. They have one match in hand, if they get these three points they get top four or five and the league just started a few weeks ago. They're a very good team, that doesn't change. We're a better team, especially we are more confident, we have a different identity. When we played them last season we were just trying to survive, trying to get the points to take us in some direction in the table that could allow us to finish top four or top six to give us something. This season we are a different profile of team. We're just different. We're a better team, a team with more solutions.”
5 - Positives
We go into the game second in Premier League, one defeat in eight, unbeaten in seven - does Jose feel we’re in a good place?
Jose: “Yes, results, performances... the table doesn’t mean much, because three points more, three points less makes a huge difference. We are getting positive results, good performances and as I said at the beginning of the season, our objective is... of course, an impossible objective... but our objective is to win every match. That’s the spirit.”
