Mourinho demands killer instinct

Chelsea are within sight of Christmas Day at the Barclays Premier League summit after Saturday's 2-1 defeat of Crystal Palace saw Mourinho's men move two points behind their next league opponents Arsenal.

"The base of our game is to kill opponents by scoring goals, because we don't want to go in the direction of being a more defensive team," Mourinho said.

"This is the easy direction to go: to build a team, to close the team, to make it compact, to wait for a goal, waiting for a counter-attack.

"This is not what we want to do and because it's not what we want to do, the way to kill opponents is to score goals."

Arsenal lost 6-3 at Manchester City, who are demonstrating a clinical cutting edge, particularly at home.

But asked if Chelsea should be more like City, Mourinho said: "Man City is one point behind us, so they need to be more like us."

Chelsea beat City in October, when Fernando Torres scored his most recent Premier League goal prior to his opening strike against Palace.

But Mourinho is eager Chelsea show the ruthlessness of a team like City, who also netted six against another title rival, Tottenham.

"When you don't kill opponents playing well, when in the game you have bad moments - because you always have bad moments in the game - you are in trouble," Mourinho added.

"You put yourself into trouble and you panic a little bit. When you lose possession of the ball or when they get a free-kick or when they get a corner or when they put a long ball in the box, you shake. And because you shake, you make mistakes."

Source: PA

Source: PA