Today’s opponents Tottenham may have made eight new signings since we last met them back in May, but one player they did not add to their squad despite efforts was Willian.
Instead the Brazilian attacker, who had undergone a medical with the north London club, joined Chelsea and while it remains to be seen if he will be involved in the lunchtime game, he was a subject of the pre-match talk with Jose Mourinho asked how he persuaded Willian to choose the Blues.
‘I did nothing,’ he responded.
‘The only thing I know is that the kid wanted to play for Chelsea and he made it very clear. Chelsea had for about two years been trying to get Willian and he felt very frustrated when that move couldn’t happen.
‘A situation arrived where he wanted to come and Chelsea were happy, and I was just asked about the quality of the player and if I would like to have the player, and of course I said yes.
‘Two seasons ago the kid was almost here and for the difference of some money it was not possible. After that Shakhtar sold him to Anzhi and the kid didn’t want to go, he always had the dream to play for Chelsea so it was based on that.’
By common consensus the players Spurs did acquire in the summer months have helped make them an imposing team, and Mourinho commented on that too.
‘They are physical but when I say physical I am not saying just big, strong people. I am also saying fast, intensive people and at the same time I think they’ve also built a very good defensive team.
‘They defend very well. The first thing they think is to be solid defensively and to build from that.’
A win for Chelsea today will see us overtake Tottenham in the table and the team Mourinho chooses for that task is unlikely to vary significantly from his last league selection.
‘We didn’t play a fantastic match against Fulham,’ he said, ‘but we played a compact one and we controlled the situation okay. So I am not going to make big changes. I want to leave some stability and some routine for the team.’