He said: “Chelsea have spent nearly half-a-billion to build a team. For us to be even competing with them every year for one major trophy is a major achievement as far as I’m concerned.
“When you look at what Rafa’s done in three years, it’s outstanding. He joined us just after Arsenal had been champions with an unbeaten record and you’d never have believed then we could possibly finish above them in the Premiership two out of the next three seasons and win more trophies.
“Pound for pound, trophy for trophy, Rafa has clearly been the best manager in England since he came here because of the circumstances in which he’s brought us success and the standard of teams we’ve beaten to do it.”
