Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea can finish fourth in the Premier League and believes Frank Lampard will benefit from the fact he is not expected to win the title this season.
Lampard took over at Chelsea in the summer, despite just one full season as a manager at Derby and has been unable to sign any new players due to a transfer ban.
Graeme Souness suggested Lampard has the toughest job at Chelsea for years, but Mourinho hit back at that claim, insisting the pressure was off.
‘I think Chelsea can finish fourth,’ Mourinho said on Sky Sports.
‘The most difficult job is when you have the job to win. When you finish second, you are best of the losers. The transfer ban relieves the pressure, they have a very good squad. I want to see the direction Frank goes.
‘Will he start [Olivier] Giroud or Tammy Abraham [against Manchester United]? If Tammy Abraham plays and Chelsea don’t win, people will go in the direction of the young players need time and we won’t win the Premier League.
‘You don’t buy players, you buy time. When you have the pressure, you buy the players and you play to win and you feel the pressure of the man at the top – it’s a much harder job.’
Mourinho predicted Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City would battle it out for the title this season and expects Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal to compete for the final Champions League spot.
He explained: ‘I want to say the obvious thing, we would love Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal to be at that level [of title challengers]. Football is unpredictable.
‘I think we all agree we are speaking about a team that won everything in England (City) and we are speaking about the European champions (Liverpool) and the runners up (Tottenham).
‘And then we are speaking about United who finished sixth [in the Premier League] and are playing in the Europa League. And Arsenal finished fifth and playing Europa League too.
‘Chelsea with this ban, which is not dramatic, because if someone could answer that ban it’s Chelsea. If that ban happens to one of the other clubs, it would be much more difficult.
‘I hope something great happens with them.’
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