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JOSE MOURINHO

LONDON. — The omens are good for a Chelsea side heading into Christmas top of the Premier League tree but manager Jose Mourinho does not want to give title rivals Manchester City any reason to cheer over the festive season. Having beaten Stoke City 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium on Monday, the London club ensured they went into a busy fixture schedule leading the table with 42 points from 17 matches.

The last three times Chelsea have been top on Christmas Day they have gone on to win the title, but with in-form City hot on their heels three points behind, Mourinho is taking nothing for granted with testing matches to come.

Sam Allardyce’s fourth-placed West Ham United travel to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground tomorrow before Mourinho’s men head to Southampton on Sunday and then make the short trip across London to face Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Day.

“Now we have to focus on the three matches we still have until the end of this period,” Mourinho told reporters after the victory at Stoke.

“Playing against Big Sam is a hard job for us, we have to cope with it. The three-point lead we have is a little advantage, it is a little pillow we have to protect us.

“We have been top of the league since day one and we are there because we are playing really well. Our Christmas fixtures are more difficult than any other one (club).”

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce says he is licking his lips at their festive fixture list despite the club having the “hardest games” of their Premier League rivals.

The Hammers face consecutive London derbies in the space of two days as they host league leaders Chelsea before travelling to Arsenal.

Both opponents are in the top six, but Allardyce is looking forward to the challenge due to his side’s form.

Saturday’s 2-0 home win at Leicester means the Upton Park outfit have only lost one of their last 10 league matches as they sit fourth in the table.

“We’re a completely different unit and we’re enjoying our Christmas more this year. We do have the hardest games over 48 hours though,” said Allardyce at the club’s pre-match Press conference on Christmas Eve.

“I’m looking forward to the games on the basis of where we are in the league and what the team has done so far.”

Boxing Day’s clash against Chelsea will see Allardyce pit his wits up against Blues’ counterpart Mourinho.

The duo traded a war of words after a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge last season, but Allardyce is looking for another good performance from his side with a result.

“It’s great to pit your wits against the best and Jose is proving that again this season,” he added.

“A good account of ourselves is a result, not a good performance and a loss.”

Midfielder Mark Noble is available for West Ham once more after overcoming injury.

Noble has missed the last four games with an Achilles problem but has handed Allardyce a boost by returning to training in advance of the festive fixtures.

James Tomkins is the only doubt for the Hammers due to a hamstring strain — with James Collins ready to step in alongside Winston Reid in the heart of their defence.

Second-placed City travel to West Bromwich Albion in search of a seventh straight league win but they are still without injured strikers Stevan Jovetic, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.

Captain Vincent Kompany is also missing for Manuel Pellegrini’s side but midfielder David Silva, having scored twice in City’s 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace last weekend, is ready to strike against struggling West Brom.

“I like to play in the middle, even though I can play on both wings,” Silva said. “When I play in the middle I get chances to score. That is why I scored the two goals. But I will be happy to help the team when the strikers are back.”

Manchester City can equal a club record of nine consecutive victories with success at West Brom on Boxing Day.

City have hit form in the past month, with their sequence of eight straight wins carrying them into the Champions League’s last 16 and cutting into Chelsea’s lead at the top.

They trail Chelsea by just three points heading into the Christmas league fixtures having — briefly — been as many as nine behind at one stage last month.

Chelsea have responded to the champions’ reinvigorated challenge by winning their last two but, after enduring an indifferent spell in October and November, City clearly have momentum.

Pellegrini said: “We are playing now with the intensity and in style of play we always do. Again we have players in high level of performance and good moments.

“We are trusting in what we do so, in the same way maybe we played in a poor way two months ago, we are doing very well.”

Victory at The Hawthorns will see City match a feat of winning nine in succession that they have only achieved twice before.

The first time was in the old Division Two between December 1909 and February 1910, with the second their much more recent hot streak of autumn 2011.

The latter sequence, when City truly asserted themselves in what was to prove their first Premier League title-winning season, most memorably included their 6-1 destruction of Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Last season they did win 18 out of 20 games across December and January but the most they won in succession was seven.

Their latest strong run was partly sparked by the brilliance of Aguero — most obviously by his brilliant hat-trick against Bayern Munich last month — but City have been without their star striker for the last three games.

The Argentinian is likely to be out another month with his knee injury and Pellegrini, although confident his team can maintain their momentum, acknowledges they need him back soon.

Elsewhere on the Boxing Day programme, third-placed Manchester United, whose progress up the league was slowed with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa last weekend, host Newcastle United while Arsenal welcome London rivals Queens Park Rangers to the Emirates.

Boxing Day Fixtures:

Kick-off 5pm unless stated

Chelsea West Ham (2:45pm); West Brom v Man City; Sunderland v Hull City; Everton v Stoke City; Leicester City v Tottenham; Burnley v Liverpool; Crystal Palace v Southampton; Swansea City v Aston Villa; Man United v Newcastle; Arsenal v QPR (7.30pm). — dailymailonline.co.uk.