• ‘I’m happy with the players I have,’ says manager • ‘We have put ourselves in this situation. Now we must put it right’

José Mourinho feels he does “not have the right” to petition the Chelsea board for transfer funds to be spent in January’s window and will retain faith in his current squad in the belief they can still finish the season in the Premier League’s top four.

The champions go into Saturday’s match at home to Norwich City a lowly 16th in the table with 11 points from 12 games, and having lost three successive league games for the first time under Roman Abramovich’s ownership. At the same stage last year they had 32 points and were en route to securing the title yet, despite the downturn, Mourinho retains the backing of the hierarchy.

There was frustration at the club’s recruitment over the summer, when the emphasis was initially put on replacing those who had departed, and the late pursuit of high-profile additions such as Everton’s John Stones ran aground. Chelsea have spent heavily in previous winter windows, most notably when David Luiz and Fernando Torres arrived for a combined £73.3m in 2011, though their policy in recent years has been to fund the vast majority of their purchases through sales. Regardless, Mourinho will not push for business in mid-season.

“I will not ask for any changes,” he said. “I will not ask the board [for players] in January. I’m happy with the players I have. I trust the players I have. I don’t need to clean the dressing room, and I don’t need to ask the club to spend money in January. I’m not saying I won’t sign anyone. I’m saying I won’t ask the club to do that. I don’t have the right to do it, in my opinion.

“Why don’t I have the right? Because our performance – if you can use that word, I’m not sure it’s the correct word – during the season in the Premier League has not been good enough. If I ask for players, or if the club gives me a handful of players, it’s like taking a bit of the responsibility off us and suggesting we needed extra [help] to reach our objectives.

“I want the responsibility to be in my hands. I want the players to have the responsibility in their hands. I want them to feel I trust them and don’t need other players to reach our objectives. We should be together, me and the players. We have put ourselves in this situation. Now we have to put it right.”

Although Everton have indicated they will not consider Stones’ departure in the new year, there remains the possibility Abramovich could sanction big-money arrivals without Mourinho agitating for additions, as the owner did with Torres and David Luiz when Carlo Ancelotti was in charge. Asked if he would accept being presented with a stellar signing, Mourinho said: “Of course yes but not because I’m not happy now or don’t trust my players, or that I think only a superstar will help us reach our objectives. We believe in ourselves, we trust ourselves. I’d be more than happy to go with this group to the end.”

That would apparently include retaining the loanee from Monaco, Radamel Falcao, who has managed a solitary goal in 10 appearances and is out injured until December. “I hope he stays,” said Mourinho. “Generally, I hope everybody stays and I hope nobody comes in, and we go together to the end. For sure, in the end of the season, we’ll be in a different situation to where we are at the moment.”

Mourinho will return to the dug-out against Norwich after a one-match stadium ban, with Chelsea then flying to Israel on Sunday before their Champions League group game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, to be played in Haifa on Tuesday night. The club are in contact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office over security issues surrounding that tie, not least with many travelling supporters expected to stay in Tel Aviv, where two people were killed on Thursday in an attack outside a shop.