adminLONDON. — Jose Mourinho said Chelsea’s win away to Crystal Palace on Saturday showed they have the character to maintain their English Premier League soccer title challenge.
The Chelsea manager was heavily critical of his team when they lost at Selhurst Park last season and when asked what his players lacked in the game, wrote the word “balls” in a reporter’s notebook.
Seven months on, Mourinho was asked what had been the key to his side’s 2-1 victory and this time wrote “big balls” in the same reporter’s notebook.
Victory — secured through goals from Oscar and Cesc Fabregas and achieved after both sides had been reduced to ten men following the dismissals of Cesar Azpilicueta and Damien Delaney — maintained both leaders Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the league campaign and their five-point advantage over reigning champions Manchester City.
This latest victory was achieved without the injured Diego Costa, Chelsea’s leading scorer this term with nine goals in his first seven league game.
For Mourinho that was a sign his squad had improved as a whole rather than just been strengthened by the arrival of Costa and fellow pre-season signing Fabregas.
However, the Portuguese boss said it was too soon to talk of the Premier League trophy returning to Stamford Bridge.
“If we were in another league, another profile of league, I would say immediately ‘yes, we will do it’,” Mourinho said.
“In the Premier League, we can do it. But it’s hard to say we will do it. There is a long way to go, lots of good teams and difficulties, difficult games and runs in front of us.”
He added: “The only thing I will say is what is obvious: we are a better team than last season, there was a clear evolution in our team, and not just because we brought in two fantastic players.” — AFP.
Online Reporter