Jose Mourinho set for 200th Chelsea game against Palace (but his wife hopes for defeat!)

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his wife Matilde

MATILDE MOURINHO had better not be expecting any big celebrations if her husband wins his 100th home Premier League game with Chelsea this afternoon.

 

In fact, she is more likely to be taken out for dinner if they are beaten by Crystal Palace.

Mourinho takes charge of his 200th league game overall with Chelsea when they meet Palace at Stamford Bridge - and it will mark a century at home, of which the Special One has, remarkably, lost only one.

 

 

Mourinho is set to take charge of his 200th Chelsea game against Crystal Palace

But, Mourinho said: "When it comes to going out to dinner, I'm more the opposite. If I lose, I go out. I am more likely to go out then than if I win. Then I don't go out.

"I don't have to hide because I've lost a match, make my family more sad than they are, and stay at home because we lose. When people do their best, like I always try to do, and you lose, you don't have to hide.

"I've got nothing organised. I'll be home by 7pm and, normally, I'll have dinner at home. It's just one game. It's a coincidence that it's game 100.

"It's a nice record only if I win. It's only this game that means something. The other 99 don't mean anything. Today, if I don't win, I'm not happy. It's only fantastic if I win."

 

The Chelsea manager even revealed that he sometimes walks home from Stamford Bridge after games, and enjoys the banter with the fans on the streets.

Mourinho said: "If I lose a game at Stamford Bridge and want to walk home, I walk home. And nobody disturbs or insults me and makes my life impossible.

"I have done it a few times, not specifically after defeats. Sometimes I walk to a restaurant close to the stadium. There are still people in the bars and the streets, but there are no problems."

In total in his two spells in charge at Chelsea, Mourinho has won 76, drawn 22 with his only home defeat in the Premier League being against Sunderland in April 2014, when they lost 2-1.

 

Chelsea will be without captain John Terry, suspended after being sent off at West Bromwich last week, and Palace manager Alan Pardew is both pleased and relieved.

"I am facing the best manager in the world in Jose Mourinho, it is an honour to go against him, and it fills me with pride," said Pardew.

"Chelsea look a better side this season than they were last season when they walked off with the Premier League title.

"I have to be happy about the fact that Terry won't be at the centre of their defence. After all, he is tremendous at everything, Jose's lieutenant out there on the pitch and off it."

 

With Mourinho losing only one home league, Pardew said: "That just shows you how difficult it is going to be for us.

"It is an incredible record, amazing, phenomenal, and something that is unique to Jose, especially these days when home games are so difficult to win.

"Last season we performed almost to our maximum against them at the Bridge and still got beat. We all know we have to be at our very best to get anything."

But Pardew, then manager of Newcastle, was one of only two managers to take three points off Chelsea, who lost only two League games and he said: 'To do it again we have to have good fortune as much as anything else. Chelsea is a great place to play and as a south west London boy I used to watch them from the terraces when I was a teenager."