Spurs have won eight out of 14 league games since the Portuguese took over, but they’ve been robbed of crucial attacking players because of injury.
Jose Mourinho insists that directing Tottenham into a top-four finish in the Premier League at the absence of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min are his greatest accomplishment as a manager.
Spurs, who had been beaten 1-0 by RB Leipzig at the Champions League last time out, sit fifth in the Premier League, 1 point behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who they face at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Since Mourinho took charge, Spurs have handled eight league victories, including three successive wins heading into Saturday’s clash at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues having won the reverse fixture against their former boss in December.
The north Londoners, however, have been rocked by injury problems, most notably for their attacking group; and Mourinho is under no illusions concerning the challenge ahead.
“Can a top-four finish, be my greatest accomplishment? In these conditions, yes,” he told a media conference on Friday.
“Sonny and Harry to score that the vast majority of Tottenham goals. If we can finish fourth without Harry and Sonny are something incredible for the boys.
“We must give everything we have.”
If Manchester City’s ban from the Champions League be maintained, fifth place will mean automatic eligibility for UEFA’s elite competition, however, despite Spurs being third in the shape table since Mourinho took over, the Portuguese claims he can’t take the whole responsibility.
“I am but that is not about me. Not about me,” he added when asked if he was proud of Spurs’ position in the table.
“When it had been about me, I’d even decide to move fast to July 1 and begin the pre-season with my players, without injuries, visiting Premier League day one using exactly the exact points as everyone else.
“That is not about me, it is about us, that is the club. The boys did fantastic to place themselves back in the places where we belong, these places fighting for the top four. The situation is tough.
“Do not think of any aims, we only need to go match after match and see where this may take us. After three months we went from closer to the relegation positions, which clearly was not a problem.
“But we moved from there to be one point behind the top four. An amazing effort by everybody. So now that we are in this situation, we got the right to fight for it.”
Despite the potentially pivotal nature of the fixture with Chelsea, Mourinho says Saturday’s trip to his former stomping ground is not any different to any other event he faces one of his previous teams.
“No, not particular, yet another game. Because I am a professional, as I’ve said every time I played with my previous clubs, I belong 200 percent to my club,” he said.
“The only different thing will be in the end of the game I will walk out of the stadium to my home but I will not take advantage of because I will return from the arena with my players.”
