Lampard approaches record

When Jose Mourinho first arrived at Stamford Bridge he refused to speak publicly about individual players. Except one - Frank Lampard. "I love him," Chelsea's new coach said.

When Jose Mourinho first arrived at Stamford Bridge he refused to speak publicly about individual players. Except one - Frank Lampard. "I love him," Chelsea's new coach said.

That admiration has continued and tomorrow the England midfielder will set a record of consecutive Premiership appearances. The fixture against Tottenham Hotspur - a club that closely monitored his potential availability when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea - will be his 114th in a row. The run started on 13 October 2001 and breaks that set by Wayne Bridge, Lampard's Chelsea team-mate, when he was at Southampton. The achievement is all the more remarkable given the depth of Chelsea's squad and the penchant the previous coach, Claudio Ranieri, had for team rotation.

Mourinho yesterday spoke about Lampard's worth, rating the 26-year-old as "one of the best players in the world". In typical Mourinho fashion, he added: "My players are always the best players in the world, even if they aren't. But Frank is one of the best." Mourinho said that analysis shows that, on average, Lampard runs 13 kilometres (eight miles) a match. "If you multiply that by 114 matches it's a big engine and a special car," he said. It's also 1,482 kilometres (921 miles). "It's a wonderful record especially because he is a midfield player and midfielders have more miles in their legs," Mourinho added. "The way I see him work, it doesn't surprise me. He's really strong physically and mentally. He loves football, loves every minute of his career."

Mourinho said Lampard would gain more international recognition once Chelsea win something. "The best example I have is what happened with Deco over the past couple of years," he said. "Last season he was elected the best player of the Champions' League and he is one of the favourites for the Golden Ball. The season before he was much better than last season - he got it last season because he was European champion. He [Lampard] is one of the best players in the world but he needs to do something big for Chelsea, he needs a trophy."

As Lampard sets one record Spurs are hoping to end another. It is 14 years - and 28 league matches - since they beat Chelsea. But Mourinho was dismissive of "superstition or statistics". He added: "We have to play to win, we should win because we are playing fantastic football at the moment."

The two clubs are unbeaten and have the best defensive records in the Premiership - only conceding three goals between them in 10 matches - but Mourinho said there was a fundamental difference. Chelsea, he said, defended well but were not defensive while the "first target" for Spurs is "not to concede goals".

Mourinho also confirmed that he had received a tentative approach from Spurs last season to become their new manager when he was at Porto. "It was in December or January but I never spoke with the club directly," he said. "I was not interested at that time, I do not like to leave clubs in the middle of the season."