Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said a top-six Premier League finish may be the best his side can hope for after an eighth defeat of the campaign against Bournemouth on Saturday.
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“I’m concerned and I was concerned before this game”.
“Chelsea obviously won’t be fighting for relegation – that’s not the point”. That is not the problem.
Mourinho says Porto can prioritise their Champions League tie, due to the inferior opposition in the Primeira Liga, but Chelsea cannot.
“I think this season we are a bit unlucky some games, but we have the same good team as past year and that team was champions so I think we have the quality to get out of this situation and we just have to fight every day, every game”. “They looked so sharp past year, it looks to me like so many of their players are running in quicksand, that sharpness isn’t there.
But there is no time to be crying – in three days we have an important game in the Champions League”. It is more about the players having to do better than the club going to the market.
“In a period where we are stronger than ever in the game is exactly when they score a goal, with 5 minutes to go. I think they did very well”. It was a penalty and the goal was offside. On Wednesday we have to win to make sure we are first [in our group] and qualify [for the knockout stages].
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Courtois returned to action at the weekend for the first time since August 29 after recovering from a knee injury. There were still a couple of shots and chances but in the second half we arrived in risky positions a lot of time with a lot of crosses from the right-hand side, especially from Branislav Ivanovic. But after yet another let down, the Special One admits that the club’s ambitions of a top four finish may be slipping away. Nine games without a win however has left the side 18 in the table, and desperate need of a win this week if they are to refrain from falling deeper into the relegation zone. ‘We were playing well before these three games but we were still losing – for example at Stoke.
