Premier League: West Ham boss Sam Allardyce hails Jose Mourinho as 'best in the world'

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says he is taking on "probably the best manager in the world" in Jose Mourinho in Boxing Day's London derby.

The Hammers have climbed to fourth spot in the league after going undefeated in December, winning three of their last four games.

And Allardyce, who masterminded a crucial 0-0 draw away to Chelsea in their last meeting nearly a year ago, believes West Ham are a better team this season and underlined the importance of winning points against Mourinho’s side.

“This one is totally different,” he said. “We are fourth in the league this time we’ve got better players. We’ve got younger players and hopefully we will come and give a good account of ourselves and a good account of ourselves is a result not a good performance and a loss.”

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After the 0-0 at Stamford Bridge last season, the Chelsea manager was quick to vent his anger over West Ham playing “football from the 19th century", but Allardyce believes Mourinho's frustration proves the Hammers are a good side.

He said: “I think that it’s a compliment that a frustrated manager vents his frustration over the fact that he can’t break the team he’s playing against down and I think that frustration spilled over into his press conference.

“He felt he should have beaten us [in their last meeting] obviously because of the position we were in at the time and the position they were in.

“So it’s always a compliment for me when a manager has a little pop at you about the way you played or what tactics you might have used because it means tactically you have been very good.

We will come and give a good account of ourselves and a good account of ourselves is a result not a good performance and a loss.

“You’ve done your job well, made sure the opposition have found it very difficult to break you down and not beaten you when everyone expected us to lose and we didn’t it.”

After surviving relegation by only seven points last season, Allardyce singled out the draw against Chelsea last year as a pivotal point in their survival from relegation and wants a repeat performance.

The game – which will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 12:30pm on Friday – could prove vital in the race to secure a spot amongst Europe’s elite for West Ham.

Allardyce remained wary of the threat Chelsea might pose in Friday's clash, and was high in praise for their manager Mourinho, who has never lost to the Hammers while in charge at Stamford Bridge.

"We have obviously improved tremendously from where we were," he said. "But that doesn't make it any easier for us playing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge because of the force that they are, and because of the manager that he is - he is probably the best working club manager in the world at the minute on his track record. I don't think there is any doubt about that."