Jose: How my friend Carlos has improved Swansea

The manager believes the Swans have improved under the stewardship of manager Carlos Carvalhal, his Portuguese compatriot and friend.

"We are going to face a team that is very well organised, especially by the defensive point of view," explained the boss in an interview with MUTV and at his pre-match press conference. "They defend not just with a lot of people, but they are really well organised and with a clear idea of their defensive movements.

"They are dangerous on the counter-attack with fast people and they are dangerous in set-pieces because they have a minimum of four big, strong players in the aerial football. They are a difficult team."

Since the turn of the year, the Swans have kept six clean sheets in all competitions and have recorded significant victories against Liverpool and Arsenal, which Mourinho admits will improve their confidence going into this weekend's game. 

"The team looks happy, the team looks confident, they get points almost everywhere even in a difficult situation and they are doing amazingly well," he added.

Not so long ago the visitors had been sat at the foot of the table, four points adrift of safety, but under the stewardship of Carvalhal the Swans have risen up the league to currently sit three points clear of the dropzone.

"They've improved a lot. They had a difficult period and they found themselves in a difficult situation, but since Carlos arrived it's obvious that the team improved," continued Jose. "They were below the last-three line for weeks and weeks and weeks, but with Carlos it has been point after point after point. Now they find themselves in a good position."

Mourinho also spoke of his relationship with Carvalhal, after the Swans' boss claimed that he was football royalty.

"He thought I was the king of coaches and said that my winning periods with Porto and when I left the country opened the door for more Portuguese coaches to leave, which is something I know is true.

"We speak a couple of times a week, we are friends for many, many years. He's a guy of great experience and I'm really happy with what he's doing."