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Mourinho identifies why Chelsea limped to their eighth league defeat of the season
By Chelsea correspondent Tony Hughes
Jose Mourinho claimed Chelsea were denied a clear penalty as they suffered their eighth Premier League defeat of the season.
The Londoners were beaten 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night by struggling Bournemouth as Eddie Howe’s side became the first newly-promoted club in Premier League history to win at the home of the champions.
Mourinho identified a second-half penalty appeal that was waved away by referee Mike Jones as a crucial factor in his team enduring a loss that leaves them just three points above the relegation zone.
The home side had appealed in unison for a second-half spot-kick when a Diego Costa cut-back struck the arm of a grounded Simon Francis inside the penalty box.
“It should have been a clear penalty,” Mourinho said in an interview with Sky Sports immediately after the match. “It was a clear handball when the result was 0-0 but that’s part of the game. The ref made an important mistake.”
The Chelsea boss was adamant that his team had deserved more from the match against opponents who were focused predominantly on defending.
“Especially in the second half the team did more than enough to win the game and create chances to win the game,” added the Portugese.
“Our opponents were thinking only about getting a clean sheet. The period when we were stronger than ever during the game was exactly when we conceded the goal.
“In the first half we were not aggressive enough. In the second half we were more aggressive and arrived in dangerous positions lots of times, especially from the right side.”
Mourinho admitted that Chelsea’s position in the table is a concern to him.
Testing times: Mourinho admitted a top-four finish might now be out of reach
He explained: “I’m concerned, obviously. I was concerned before this game because I’m not happy with this position.
“Obviously, Chelsea will never be fighting for relegation. No chance. Chelsea will win matches and come out of that area [in the table]. That’s not the point.
“The problem is our objective is to finish top four and before this game that was fair for us to think and feel that with our quality that we could win three or four matches and push us up to a position where I was expecting us to be by the end of December.
“Defeat has put us in, I repeat, not a dangerous position but our objective is not to fight for relegation. If our relegation is to finish top four, maybe we have to think about top six.”