Mourinho woe a sign of the times in competitive Premier League - Martinez

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea struggles do not surprise Roberto Martinez as his Everton counterpart thinks bumper television deals are starting to prove a real leveller in the Premier League.

Reports have suggested that Mourinho is on the brink of getting sacked as the champions sit just two points above the bottom three after 16 games.

The latest of Chelsea's nine league defeats this season came on Monday at Leicester City, who travel to Goodison Park this weekend two points clear at the top of the table.

While Leicester's success is not directly linked to money spent strengthening their squad – top scorer Jamie Vardy has been at the club since May 2012 and cost less than £2million – rival top-flight sides are undoubtedly splashing the cash to bridge the gap with elite clubs like Chelsea.

"I just think it is the nature of the game and how difficult it is," said Martinez when asked on Mourinho's plight.

"Even when you are the best in the business because Jose Mourinho's record speaks for itself, football can be very, very difficult when you've got a momentum that goes against your team and the results are very difficult to pick up.

"Straight away you can see that [in] the Premier League there is not a given result that you can relax about.

"You have to be good in every single performance to try to get a win. It is no surprise that we are emerged in such a competitive league that anyone can suffer a bad period."  

Reflecting on the unpredictable nature of the 2015-16 campaign – AFC Bournemouth have beaten the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United and Leicester are setting the pace – Martinez said: "I think the new investment and the new television deal will allow any team to have their own ways and their own reasons to be competitive.

"And we saw the signs already in this campaign that anybody can beat anybody on the day. The margins of winning or drawing or losing are becoming smaller and smaller and smaller."