Mourinho has never been short of words, and he insists that it is not yet time to call him in the race. Perhaps this is what Manuel Pellegrini got all wrong, as he watched his team crumble to a first home defeat this season and fail to score in a game at home since Birmingham City’s visit in 2012.
After Mike Dean whistled the end of the nervy 94 minutes face-off, Jose Mourinho took all smiles from the travelling fans and was upbeat in the post-match conference. Once again, he had praises for his entire squad commitment to rise up to the occasion and put his side points level with Manchester City in the league table. Surprisingly, Mourinho even praised Demba Ba’s one minute presence on the pitch, where he was able to clear off a threatening last minute corner.
The win left Chelsea two points shy of the top of the table , and with the league leaders Arsenal having a stretch of tricky matches, including a visit to Anfield in the coming weekend, and welcoming the champions at their backyard the next game, Mourinho still insists that the title pursuit is still a two horse race.
He avoided to be drawn in the race itself , arguing that Chelsea are a little horse that still needs milk and work to learn how to jump. He continued, “there are two big horses and the last horse, a horse that next season can race”. One of the things he still reminds the world is that his team is still in evolution, but the earlier Mourinho’s opponent can read between the lines, the better it will be for them, otherwise the little horse can still jump and run.
Manuel Pellegrini though, calm as always, argued that Chelsea had little options other than winning the game, since this could have left them six points adrift of Manchester City. Even then, he still believed that there was so little that separated both teams.
