Football
Kevin Palmer 9y

Chelsea's Jose Mourinho wary of 'very good coach' Ronald Koeman

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is relishing the chance to lock horns with his former Barcelona colleague Ronald Koeman as he takes his Premier League leaders to St Mary's Stadium to face Southampton on Sunday.

Mourinho worked alongside current Saints boss Koeman as part of Louis van Gaal's coaching staff at Barcelona in the late 1990s, and the Portuguese has voiced praise for his Dutch counterpart ahead of their first Premier League meeting.

"We worked together in Barcelona in Mr. Van Gaal's coaching staff so we were colleagues," the Chelsea manager told the club's official website.

"Ronald was obviously a big player for Barcelona, but he left and I was already a member of the technical staff before he arrived back. I had stability and I think we helped each other and we were not there for anything other than helping Mr Van Gaal because he was the boss, and I think we did our work quite well.

"So I know Ronald well, I know he is a good coach with a good mentality and I know the football principles he likes so when I saw him take over [Mauricio] Pochettino's team, I thought he was the right guy to do it.

"Southampton lost some good players but they were very clinical in their choices [for replacements], so they have a good squad, a very good coach and they are playing well.

"They are getting results and they are the kind of team that in this moment has no pressure as relegation is very far away and the title is not for them. So they are in a fantastic situation to play beautiful football like they are doing."

Meanwhile, Mourinho has claimed he is in a fortunate position of having a full complement of players to select from during a hectic fixture list, as his side prepare to return to action less than 48 hours after they finished their Boxing Day win against West Ham.

"At the moment it is difficult to choose 11 players plus seven substitutes because everybody is fit," added Mourinho. "Against West Ham I had to leave out [Loic] Remy, [Mohamed] Salah and [Nathan] Ake, people who are working a lot to have an opportunity, so it is good problems for me.

"The players are human, like the Southampton players are human and it will be very difficult for us and for them, but we have to do it and before the West Ham match I had the same feeling I have before every Boxing Day -- so proud.

"We get the salaries we get because people are in love with the game and if people want football, we must give them football so we are so happy to do it."

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