Mourinho looking forward to season: 'I am on fire'

The pressure is on Jose Mourinho to produce title challenges, but the Special One isn't feeling the strain. Not yet, at least.

Speaking the day before Manchester United's first game of the Premier League season, in which the Red Devils will battle West Ham United at Old Trafford, Mourinho denied feeling any stress and said he's looking forward to the campaign with optimism and enthusiasm.

"The only thing I have to do is work every day like I always do, the only demand on me is the one I put on myself," Mourinho declared, according to the Guardian's Paul Wilson. "I don't put any extra pressure on myself because I always give everything, then normally the results are a good consequence of that work. My dedication to my job is always at the maximum, even more now than when I started, and I believe at the end of the season we will see the results. With these players I am looking forward to the season with optimism, with enthusiasm, I can't wait for the Champions League to start and the chance to play the top clubs. I am on fire."

Following a season in which Antonio Conte got the best of Mourinho, the Portuguese manager is entering a defining adventure in the Premier League. A sixth-place finish was nullified by a free pass in his inaugural year at United, and, for a tactician who won a league title in his second year at Chelsea, Internazionale, and Real Madrid, the Red Devils' supporters have high expectations for his second chapter at Old Trafford.