Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has claimed that Liverpool's lack of Champions League football gives them a huge advantage in the title race.
The Reds are currently fourth in the Premier League, and after the Portuguese coach likened his own side's prospective chances to a "little horse", the Blues boss admitted that he was wary of Brendan Rodgers's Reds coming up the rear with a late surge in the final furlong.
Speaking after watching his side draw 1-1 with West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday evening, Mourinho said: "If [Liverpool] lose a match or have an injury, everything is more stable.
"People are asking if Arsenal might fall apart after what happened at Liverpool, but it can happen to any one of the three of us - any one - but not Liverpool, because they have this stability of playing one match a week.
"For all of us involved in the Champions League and Premier League race, facing match after match, you do find the concentration and the focus is split by the Champions League. You start to think about, 'We don't want to play this player because we have the Champions League [coming up]' and 'We want to rest this player or that one'. But none of us is free for that to happen."
Liverpool can close the gap on the Blues to four points when they visit Fulham this evening.
Paul Gorst
