Chelsea could finish the season in style - but will Jose Mourinho let them?

“What is only on my mind is to try and win the three points [against Manchester United on Saturday],” Mourinho responded.

That prospect has been greatly helped by the fact Louis van Gaal suddenly has so many injury absences again, but it's still Chelsea who have seemed to be limping of late. It has represented a curious dimension to this season’s run-in. Although Chelsea are set to surge to an ultimately easy title win, the nature of recent performances has meant that so much of the hype and excitement had been about Manchester United and Arsenal - Mourinho’s next two opponents.

The mood around both of those teams has been that they have a good chance of giving a stuttering Chelsea a beating, and lay the foundation for a proper title challenge next season, if not even ensure this run-in is a bit tenser.

So, with the form of United and Arsenal, the reasonable expectation is that they will seek to build on that momentum and take the game to Chelsea. That seems certain. They’ll want to make a statement.

The real wonder is how Mourinho will approach these matches. Will Chelsea finish the season as they started, and offer a fitting final flourish, or will the Portuguese merely continue the minimalist approach of the last three months and so many big games in this campaign?

Given those matches and Mourinho’s own history, the suspicion is that he will look to just lock these next two matches down. He may well just set up defensively. After all, by killing these games, he can also kill off their title challenges.

Draws would keep both United and Arsenal sufficiently at bay, so it would be reasonable for Chelsea to just try keep their attacks subdued. That is precisely what Mourinho did against Manchester City, and would arguably then be a more appropriate way to win the title than a return to the rousing wins of the first three months.

It would also be totally understandable. Manchester United went with exactly that safety-first approach when clinching the league with a 0-0 against Arsenal back in 2009, while Arsene Wenger went ultra-defensive when beating United on penalties in one of his last trophy wins, the 2005 FA Cup. In such situations, the side have far more to lose than to win, so it is somewhat inevitable that they will not take the same risks against better attacks.

The problem is that it just doesn’t seem befitting of champions, of the best side in a country. Most would want a performance to match the achievement. Mourinho did claim he would seek to offer that, even if that must be tempered by the fact he regularly makes such claims ahead of reserved performances. He insisted he would not go safety-first.

“The safest option is to win 11 points [required to win the league]. We can’t do that in two matches, but in seven. We go for them and change nothing. We want to win the game. All our plans are in that direction.”

Despite this season’s draws, the direction of Mourinho’s results in big games remain hugely impressive. That is why it will be dangerous for either United or Arsenal to get too confident in that regard, whatever their recent form.

Other than against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, the Portuguese generally wins such matches. A hint of why was given in his press conference too, as he talked about how the mentality among his squads means they tend to be fired up for deciders like this.

“This week I was not worried about motivating players or demanding players to be focused on the game and the opponent, because there is no need. It's an easy job. It is a special fixture. A big match.”

You only have to look to the last time Mourinho clinched a Premier League title back in 2006. The opponents were coincidentally Manchester United, and Chelsea didn’t so much clinch it as claim it with a justifiably arrogant sense of entitlement.

Alex Ferguson’s side were on a good run of form, to the point that the Scot insisted they would ensure Mourinho wouldn’t have it easy. It ended up being a hugely difficult day for United, as they were commandingly beaten 3-0.

This was no lock-down. It was a performance worthy of champions. The question is whether Mourinho will offer the same now, against the opponents it would mean the most against, or whether he’ll close it out by closing it all down.