Earlyface

Jose Mourinho
has urged
Chelsea to
"enjoy the
moment" and
make sure they overtake at least one of
their Premier League title
rivals in Thursday's traditional
Boxing Day fixtures. Swansea City are the visitors
to Stamford Bridge on a day
that also sees leaders
Liverpool travel to
Manchester City, who are in
third place. Just two points separate the
top five, with Arsenal second,
Chelsea fourth and Everton
fifth. "The best way to get the first
objective, which is top four
and Champions League
(qualification), is to be close in
the title race, so let's enjoy
the moment," Mourinho said. "I know Swansea are a good
team with good players and a
certain style of play, but we
are two points behind and
two title contenders are
playing each other. It is important for us to win." Chelsea drew 0-0 at Arsenal
on Monday, the day after
Swansea had been beaten 2-1
at home by Everton. "It is a bit more difficult for us
because we played on
Monday and our opponents
played on Sunday, so they
had one more day to rest –
and one more day is a lot," Mourinho added. "But I hope Stamford Bridge is
there for us. When I say
Stamford Bridge I mean
Stamford Bridge with noise,
because last Boxing Day
Chelsea were 11 points behind the leaders – Chelsea were out
of the title race – and we are
there now. "We are two points behind
both leaders, so we have
reasons to keep going." Mourinho has not tasted a
traditional English festive
period of hectic fixture
scheduling since 2006, having
enjoyed winter breaks in
Italy and Spain since then while in charge of Inter Milan
and Real Madrid. "I love it," he said. "I don't
play, of course, so for the
players it is more difficult
than it is for me, but I always
feel very proud to be
working on Boxing Day and giving the people what they
want. "My wife and my kids, they
are fantastic. They understand
completely that I love to do
it. They are in England, they
are not with the Portuguese
family. "They miss their family, but
they know that I have to do
it and I am very happy to do
it." Swansea's hopes of recording
a first victory in six Premier
League games have been hit
by the loss of forward Michu
for six weeks. The Spain international
requires surgery on an ankle
problem and the blow comes
shortly after winger Nathan
Dyer suffered a serious ankle
injury at Norwich City. "It's not good news," said
manager Michael Laudrup. "Unfortunately he will need
an operation. It can be done in
the next week and he should
be back playing in around a
month and a half." The growing injury problems
mean Laudrup is reconsidering
his approach to the January
transfer window. "What has happened in the
last couple of weeks has
changed things," the Dane
admitted. "We will probably do
something now in January
and try to add something that
we don't have in certain
positions. The numbers are a
bit down and that is risky for the last four months of the
season." Ben Davies, the Swansea left-
back, has been rewarded for
his impressive form with a
contract extension that will
keep him at the club until
2017. The 20-year-old said: "It
wasn't a difficult decision and
it's always great to sign a
new deal and commit my
future to the club."