Petulant Mourinho denies Leicester plaudits for Spurs win

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho belittled Leicester City’s sterling display in a 2-0 win over his side on Sunday, three days after claiming “the best team lost” in a 2-1 stoppage time defeat at Liverpool.

“I didn’t think either team played very, very well,” Mourinho told the BBC after a Jamie Vardy penalty and a Toby Alderweireld own goal put his side to the sword.

“It’s a game where your goalkeeper doesn’t make a single save, but it’s a game that we didn’t play very well.

“We deserved to win the game at Liverpool and that would have made it an amazing week because nobody has done that for a long time – the team was phenomenal at Liverpool. Now if you look at the table everybody is there.”

Having picked up only one point in their last three games, Tottenham are now six points behind champions and leaders Liverpool who followed up on their win over Spurs with a 7-0 demolition of Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Mourinho argued Spurs missed the best chances against Leicester but the visitors always looked more dangerous in possession and had another goal scrapped for marginal offside as their lethal counter-attacking paid dividends.

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was delighted after the Foxes bounced back from a 2-0 home defeat by Everton on Wednesday to move two places up to second, four points behind Liverpool.

“I thought we controlled the game in the first half and looked a really good side and deserved to be in front,” he told Sky Sports.

“In the second half we controlled the game without having the ball, and with a little bit more finesse we could have won by more. Over the course of the game we were outstanding and it was a very good win for us.

“We have to start winning at home. The group is learning all the time and that’s why we’re nowhere near the finished product.”