Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed that Chelsea’s seven-point lead at the top could still be surmountable. Chelsea moved seven clear of Manchester City after they could only draw against Hull City in their home game.
Aston Villa finally ended a terrible run of not scoring a Premier League goal since December after Jores Okore equalised for them in the second half. Eden Hazard had given Chelsea the lead in the first half after some good work by Willian and the blues seemed comfortable for the rest of that half other than a few half chances by Gabriel Agbonlahor who should have done better after his header that missed the target.
Despite Villa’s equaliser, Chelsea still seemed like the better side and took the lead once again through Branislav Ivanovic’s stunning left-foot strike in the 66th minute. The win meant that Chelsea moved seven points clear of title rivals Manchester City.
When Mourinho was asked about the lead, he response was cautious as City have already clawed back leads before, “Seven points means seven points, we have 14 matches to go. We are speaking about 42 points to play for and in 42 we have a lead of seven. I think it’s nothing.
a I would say in another league a done. In the Premier League, I would say far from done because the Premier League is the only league where any team can take points from the top teams.
a You go to other leagues and the teams from the second part of the table, they play the top teams and they lose, they lose easily with big results.
a We have 14 matches left and thata s a long way to go.a
Mourinho also revealed that he felt his opponents Aston Villa have too many good players to get relegated, a A team with so many good players is not a team in trouble. The teams in trouble are the ones without good players and Aston Villaa s is a squad filled with good players.
a They are a very good side, so for us to win here is very important a obviously ita s very difficult. The result says everything.
a I knew that they had a reaction and my players couldna t cope. The good thing was that after that we had our reaction, we found our stability and we started going forwards.
a We went to try to win and, when we scored the second goal, after that I dona t remember a dangerous situation in our goal. We could control with stability.a
Despite his claims, a seven-point lead could be too much for Manchester City as Chelsea have already let an eight-point lead slip and it’s likely that they will do it again.