‘I put pressure on myself every day’: Jose Mourinho hits back at Spurs critics after setting unwanted record

A dismal 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night saw Spurs lose three successive league games for the first time since 2012

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho (REUTERS)

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho is not feeling any external pressure after a third Premier League defeat in a row and insists he can still bring glory to the club.

A dismal 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night saw Spurs lose three successive league games for the first time since 2012 as their campaign is imploding having been top of the table in mid-December.

Five defeats from nine games has ended any hopes of a title challenge and is making a top-four finish look difficult, but Mourinho has guided Spurs to the final of the Carabao Cup and they are still in the FA Cup and Europa League.

There is some unrest within the supporters at results and Mourinho's pragmatic style of play, but the only place he is feeling pressure from is himself.

"I put pressure on myself every day," he said. "I don't need others to put pressure on me. I put pressure on myself every day. Every day. So since 2012 without three defeats in a row? But since when without a title? Maybe I can give one."

Mourinho's most pressing task is to ensure his side stop the rot and get back to winning ways against West Brom on Sunday.

The match against the Baggies precedes an FA Cup trip to Everton and a league visit to Manchester City and the Portuguese accepts it is a big game.

"The most important thing now is West Bromwich," he said. "I don't even want to think about Everton or about City.

"I think after City, we go to Austria, again on Europa League, which is a big competition for us, we have good expectations in that competition.

"But I don't even want to think about that. I want to think about West Bromwich. That's a big game. Sometimes big games are just against the top six, or the London derbies.

"Other times, big games can be games like this. Is a big game for West Bromwich, because they need a victory, they need points, they need to survive. They need to get out of where they are.

"It's a big game for us. Because we need to leave the position where we are, which is not a dramatic position like theirs is, but is a very bad position for us, we have to leave it, we need to win, we need to break the dynamic of three defeats like you saw.

"So it's a very important match for us. But the reality is that, until the end of the month, we have great motivations in front of us.

"Europa League is something that, since the beginning, we put a lot on. I cannot forget that we had to play how many games to qualify for the group phase, and games with two days in between, travelling around Europe to do it.

"So we want, the team wants, the team is waiting for that, and maybe the squad needs that.

"But let's focus on West Bromwich because it's the next match and as you say, after three defeats, we have to win against West Bromwich, we cannot even think a different thing."

Mourinho has hinted Harry Kane might return after an ankle injury, but Dele Alli (tendon), Giovani Lo Celso (hamstring) and Sergio Reguilon (muscle) are all sidelined.

PA