• Premier League

Mourinho stokes things up for Arsenal and Liverpool

Jose Mourinho has gone on the offensive again with a dual attack on Arsenal and Liverpool as tension mounts in the title race.

The Chelsea manager has been making mischief more and more as the season has progressed and with the race for the top as tight as it is, he has put pressure on two of his team's rivals by claiming they have no excuse for falling short.

Mourinho says Arsenal should be winning trophies this season and can no longer use the notion of having a young team as a smokescreen after spending the last few years building a team to compete with the game's elite.

He also repeated his assertion that Liverpool's title race "Chihuahua" have it easy because they can rest when their rivals are competing in Europe.

"Arsenal have spent many, many years working together," Mourinho told the Daily Mail. "Many, many years making these players grow up and achieve this maturity level.

"Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs, they are not kids any more. They were kids, but in this moment they are mature players.

"The manager with this group of players, four, five or six years working with these players and then adding fantastic players like Mezut Ozil, Santi Cazorla or Per Mertesacker to the team, these last pieces of experiences. I think they are very good team."

After provoking a verbal battle with Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini recently, Mourinho appears intent now on making life difficult for the other teams who can be considered a threat to Chelsea.

Mourinho has been playing down his own team's chances of winning the title and while the Portuguese has watered down those claims a little, he seems keen to keep the focus on others.

"The league is amazing, it is fun, but Liverpool have a big advantage because of the fact they don't play in the Champions League," Mourinho said.

"There is no easy run-in for anyone. Every team needs points for their objective -- some for relegation, some for Champions League football and some are trying to be champions. It's going to be hard for everybody.

"When I say we're not the top candidate everyone thinks 'here he is again, with what you like to call the mind games, but this is just my feeling,"

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