Premier League: Jose Mourinho plays down Chelsea title chances

Chelsea have defeated Manchester City 1-0 on Monday at Etihad Stadium, which means the Blues are now level with the Citizens on 53 points from 24 games while Arsenal lead the league table on 55 points. Despite the crucial win Jose Mourinho says the Gunners are the favourites to win the title while Manchester City would be second in the three-horse race. "Maybe Arsenal deserve it more than us. They are top of the league and they are the favourites. We go behind them and play and watch. Two horses and a little horse that still needs milk and to learn how to jump. A horse that next season can race." The Chelsea manager added: "I just think it is very important because it is not good for the evolution of the team if you are playing in the Premier League 10, 15 points behind the leaders. It is not good for the evolution of the team if you are playing Europa League. We need big things... we need these kind of matches with the pressure we felt today and this for the team is very important." Mourinho was thrilled with the performance of his team after notching a second victory over Manchester City this season. "I think we played fantastic, against a fantastic team. To play the way we did, I think is amazing for the boys in this process of building the team and prepare the team to be one of the favourites next season. I think this is a very important step - the best team in the Premier League, we beat them twice, and especially today we were fantastic. They had a couple of chances to score but we had the better chances to kill the game and the players played with fantastic spirit - the way I was trying to explain. You never know how things go but when they had the ball, we were all very humble and all very ready to work a lot defensively. When we had the ball, we were trying to play and we played very well." The journalists at the press conference insisted on Chelsea's title chances and the reasons behind Mourinho's lack of optimism, so the manager added: "Because it is not our objective to do that, our objective is to build a team. Our objective is to complete the puzzle and, more than the puzzle, complete the formation of the players. Some managers, some clubs because of their nature, their DNA say I need two, three, four, five years. I want to start the next pre-season in the summer and to say, and also my players to say, that this season we are going to compete directly with the best and we consider ourselves one of the favourites. This season, I'm sorry I can't do that." The bookmakers don't have the same opinion as Mourinho, Arsenal are third favourites while Manchester City remain the main contenders. Here are the Premier League outright odds at Bet365: Manchester City - 1/1 Chelsea - 2/1 Arsenal - 4/1