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José Mourinho has challenged Tottenham forward Carlos Vinicius to improve his physique to be a success in the Premier League.
The loan from Benfica he scored two goals in Thursday’s 4-0 win over Ludogorets in the Europa League, but will return to the bench for Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.
Since arriving in early October, the 25-year-old has been a peripheral figure for Spurs nationally, appearing only once in the league as a late substitute at West Brom.
However, after Vinicius scored his first two goals for the club earlier this week, the Tottenham manager Mourinho He spoke of the positive impact of the former Monaco and Naples player.
“He is not playing a lot, especially in the Premier League, but he helped us win the match in West Bromwich and in the Europa League he is doing well and adapting,” Mourinho said.
“Against Ludogorets it was good that he scored an important goal. The second is 75 percent of Dele Alli’s goal, but then in the second half he assists Lucas (Moura) for his goal.
“He’s a big boy, a strong boy and he needs to be more physical in the Premier League, but I’m happy.
“It’s good for the team to have that because, for example, last season, if Harry Kane needed a break, we couldn’t and since Vinicius is here, the team is much more balanced.”
Tottenham will be without defender Toby Alderweireld (groin) and midfielder Erik Lamela (Achilles) for the clash at Stamford Bridge.
Alderweireld’s absence could result in Joe Rodon, who signed from Swansea last month, having a full debut even though Davinson Sánchez and Japhet Tanganga helped the Spurs keep a clean sheet against Ludogorets.
Winger Steven Bergwijn kicked off Saturday’s 2-0 win over Manchester City and, although Mourinho confirmed that the Dutchman, along with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, have “little things” that saw them miss the tie midweek of the Europa League, the three expected feature in Chelsea.
The Portuguese enjoyed great success during two stints in West London and is well aware of the scale of the task at hand on Sunday.
Mourinho told Spurs TV: “It is always difficult to play against Chelsea.
“If I’m not mistaken, the last 16 years they have won the Premier League five times and they didn’t finish in the Champions League positions only once, so this is a team that is used to playing for titles, a lot of players, big investments, great team “.
Tribute to Maradona
Tottenham paid tribute to Diego Maradona this Thursday with a minute’s silence before their home game against Ludogorets.
Premier League teams will also mark the 1986 World Cup winner’s death on Wednesday with players from all 20 clubs wearing black armbands during this game week and there will also be a minute of applause.
Mourinho spoke of his admiration for the Argentine and added: “Maradona and Diego, Maradona the world knows and the world never forgets.
“I made sure that my son knew a lot about him, even being born after Diego Maradona as a player and I know that my son will make sure that one day when he becomes a father he will not let his children forget.
“It was similar with my dad and (Alfredo) Di Stefano. I never saw Di Stefano play soccer, my dad made sure I knew about Di Stefano because with this generation, we have players from my generation and Diego in my generation was what everyone knows.
“Then there is Diego the boy and that one that I miss.”
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