Samir Nasri Comments on Jose Mourinho, Calls Chelsea 'Not Special at All'
Defending Premier League champions Manchester City trail Chelsea by seven points with 13 matches left in the season, but midfielder Samir Nasri doesn't seem all that concerned.
On Thursday, the 27-year-old offered his unflattering assessment of the current table-toppers, via The Daily Telegraph's John Percy:
"I’m a big fan of Mourinho, but I am not impressed with his team, not at all. When I have seen some of their games, I don’t think they are that fantastic—they are just strong, and have a good striker up front.
For me they are not special at all, and I think they are going to make some mistakes. We have played them twice, one time with 10 men, and we were better than them. Then we played them at Stamford Bridge, and we were better than them.
"
Both matches between the two sides this season have ended in 1-1 draws. In the first, Pablo Zabaleta went off with a red card in the 66th minute, but former Blues star Frank Lampard rescued his new side with a late equalizer. In the second meet, less than two weeks ago, City held 56.4 percent of possession and created more chances but came away with a point nonetheless.
Nasri didn't play in either of those matches.
The Frenchman has never been shy about speaking his mind, and City fans likely enjoy the straightforward approach, but the timing of these comments is a bit peculiar. Manuel Pellegrini's side has just one win in its last five matches, while Chelsea has gone 4-1-0 over that span to build a large cushion atop the table.
Moreover, as one fan suggested, his comments about Chelsea riding the coattail of Diego Costa is a bit off base:
Still, Nasri is confident his club will win the league.
“If we reach 90 points we will be champions of England. If we win all of our games, it will put pressure on Chelsea.”
Say City does claim 38 of an available 39 points to reach that landmark. If they become nearly invincible and accomplish that gargantuan task, Chelsea would still "only" have to average 2.46 points per match the rest of the way to win the title, which is only slightly above their season pace of 2.36.
While Nasri is confident, he isn't all that realistic. No matter how he feels about Chelsea, the Blues are favorites to add some silverware in a little over three months.
