Mourinho reveals what Spurs fans could have done against Chelsea

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has blamed his side’s recent defeat to rivals Chelsea on the continued shutout of supporters.

Spurs went down 1-0 in last week’s behind-closed-doors derby and were second best until a late rally, which nearly saw them snatch an equaliser.

Mourinho’s side visit Everton in the FA Cup fifth-round on Wednesday, aiming to capitalise on the reduction in home advantage caused by the ongoing absence of fans.

The Portuguese believes results across the top-flight are being particularly impacted by the situation, including Spurs’s abject defeat to the Blues.

“The FA Cup is a special competition that even with a full stadium, normally weak teams would take much more supporters than in the Premier League,” he said.

“So I felt that playing at home or away always allowed a different atmosphere than in the Premier League.

“In the Premier League I have to admit that it’s one thing to play with full stadiums and another to play with empty stadiums. I believe that every coach tries, like I try, to make the players feel good feelings, but the reality is a completely different story.

“I believe that has an impact in some of the results.

“Let’s just give an example. We were losing against Chelsea 1-0, we were playing much better in the second half than first half. The last 20 minutes the team started pressing a lot and being closer. I believe, I believe that stadium full could make an impact on the team and I think this happens in every stadium.

“So the public makes a difference, I believe so.”

Mourinho also said the postponement of fixtures had distorted the Premier League table, with Spurs still yet to face Aston Villa this season after their trip to Villa Park last month was called off due to a coronavirus outbreak the Midlands club.

Spurs briefly slipped to ninth place after Chelsea condemned them to a third straight League defeat but they recovered with a win over struggling West Brom at the weekend.

“We’re going [to fight] until the last match like we did last season and after the last match when everybody’s played two matches against every opponent, we’ll have a clear idea of what the team achieved and what the team deserves to achieve,” Mouinho said.

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“At this moment there’s still almost 50 per cent of the competition to play. It looks a little bit strange but the reality is we didn’t play yet against Villa but we played twice Liverpool, twice against Chelsea, in a few days we play twice against Man City. It looks like somebody threw all the big opponents to us at the same time.

“But that’s not a drama. We have to play against everybody and at the end of the season everybody played two matches against every opponent.”