Trophy hungry Jose can reacquaint himself with Capital One Cup

There’s no question that the Premier League title features highest on Jose Mourinho’s wish list of the trio of domestic trophies available to win, though history denotes the League Cup is not a competition the Portuguese will take lightly.

“Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything,” or so said the highly quotable coach of the famous 1960’s Green Bay Packers team, Vince Lombardi.

This is a mantra which fits Mourinho – the manager who can be credited with creating Chelsea’s near-insatiable appetite for trophies over the last decade – perfectly.

The Special One’s return to Stamford Bridge has understandably lent support to the theory that Chelsea will continue to add to their burgeoning stockpile in 2013/14 and at odds of 6/1 the Capital One Cup is a great place to start.

While other top sides have regularly treated this competition with contempt, letting their reserves and youth teamers loose, the Portuguese’s lust for silver meant he fielded strong teams from the start of his west-London reign.

This ultimately led to a maiden trophy in his very first season on English shores, a season where Mourinho would go on to see Chelsea ribbons attached to the Premier League trophy as well.

Far from being a burden to Mourinho, the League Cup, like the FA Cup is another potential feather to stuff into his cap, which he’ll not pass-up in favour of a week’s rest in the fixture list.

Also working in Chelsea and Mourinho’s favour is the change of stewardship at both of his main rivals for the Premier League.

Such will be the scrutiny placed on both David Moyes and Manuel Pellegrini to keep pace in the league and perform in Europe that their own focus is sure to be far from this particular competition.