Branislav Ivanovic tips Jose Mourinho for manager award

Branislav Ivanovic is tipping Jose Mourinho for the Manager of the Season award after Chelsea's title-winning season.

The Serbia defender was surprised that Mourinho had not won a Manager of the Month award in the last nine months but feels he has done more than enough to earn the annual award. 

"There is not even a question over who the best manager is this season," Ivanovic said.

"I don't know how that (not winning manager of month) happened. But it doesn't matter. If he won one or not, for sure he is the best manager this season. He always makes the difference. Most of the games, when you study them, every single one he was important in making sure we won them.

"He has crucial things to say and crucial things to decide. When there is a big game he is always so motivated, but small games too. Inside the team, it's all about him. We are all so happy and appreciate the fact we get to work with a manager like him.

"He's developed our squad and changed the mentality. He has done a lot of things for two years and this year really is the best."

Mourinho plans to integrate Chelsea's youngsters into his side in their penultimate game at West Brom next weekend, and Ivanovic is excited by the emerging talent that is beginning to flourish at Stamford Bridge.

He said: "We have a great generation of young players. It's not just Ruben (Loftus-Cheek). We have a minimum of five, six players who can be in our squad and it is great for the manager to give them a chance to play.

"This is the period, the next one or two years, where they need to prove they are really good."

With the title safely in the bag, John Terry has set his sights on beating his own personal goalscoring record; his header against Liverpool took his season's tally to eight and wants one more to take him to a new all-time mark. 

"Looking for one more to beat my best," Terry told Chelsea TV. "Two games to go. I'm fit. Hopefully I play in both. I'll be begging the manager to let me play. Two games we need to keep winning and keep pushing on."