Jose Mourinho disclosed after Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Norwich City that he dedicates Diego Costa’s goal to his friend who lost his father during the week and was absent at the match venue on Saturday.
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The Blues managed to leapfrog opponents Norwich City and find themselves in 15th position on the league table with 14 points, hardly the flawless perch for the reigning EPL Champions.
“It’s a bit of a relief”, Mourinho said after Costa’s first goal since the win over Aston Villa last month ended a three-match losing streak. “Sometimes we get results, sometimes not”. “The fourth place for me is just not an unattainable mission”. They should ideally be looking to make a top 4 finish at least, unless Tom Cruise listens to Jose and takes up this particular Mission Impossible.
“It’s complicated because you have to recover points from four candidates”.
“But to grab one of the [teams] that go up and will also have a little bit of a collapse… the fourth position is a hard position but a possible target”.
Costa had failed to get on the end of two crosses by the lively Eden Hazard and had also wasted two more chances before scoring his third league goal of the season. I said to him: ‘Maybe we have to try something, to change something. “For every game you don’t score you have five kilos more and the pressure is there”, said Mourinho.
Mourinho rose to applaud him with the rest of the home supporters when he was substituted in injury time after an energetic performance that should have created at least one goal had Costa been at his best. “I hope in a couple of days it will be good everywhere again”. “Everything is connected. When you are full of confidence it’s not just about goals you have fluency in your decisions, you choose well”. He and Hazard were the stand-out players in the second half, and his quick free-kick set up Costa for the only goal of the game.
“Then you reflect on the overall score being 1-0, and we go back with nothing”.
Teams finishing in top four have recorded an average of 72 points in the past five seasons, and for Chelsea to reach that mark, they would need a further 58 point equivalent to 19 wins and a draw in the remaining 25 matches.
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Norwich manager Alex Neil bemoaned that his side was denied a penalty, when Robbie Brady was bundled over with the game goalless, and knows he needs another striker, with Dieumerci Mbokani woeful. The chance we missed in the last minute of the first half was incredible.
