Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho remains wary of Manchester City's threat in the race for the Barclays Premier League title race, insisting the seven-point lead that his side opened up on Saturday "is nothing".
Manchester City had to rescue a last-gasp 1-1 draw at home to Hull City, while Chelsea increased their advantage at the top of the table with a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Aston Villa. James Milner’s stoppage-time free-kick cancelled out David Meyler’s first-half goal for Hull.
At Villa Park, Chelsea took an early lead through Eden Hazard but were pegged back by Jonas Okore scoring Aston Villa’s first league goal in 659 minutes. But Branislav Ivanovic popped up to restore Chelsea’s lead to hand them three points and send them seven clear of the champions.
But Mourinho is refusing to get carried away, reminding his Chelsea team that there are still 42 points left to play for and insisting that City are capable of clawing themselves back.
"In another country I would say it's fantastic, in this country I say it's nothing," he said. "Every game is difficult, anything could happen.
"Seven points means seven points but you have 14 matches to go. You are speaking about 42 points to play for, we have a lead of seven. I think it's nothing. When you are top of the league you don't need the other teams to lose points. If they lose, good, but we have to focus on ourselves.
"If we win the next game we have a seven-point lead with 13 matches to go. I am surprised with nothing in this country. Any team can take points. So no, I am not surprised by [City's result]."
Pellegrini seeks more goals
City manager Manuel Pellegrini was more perturbed by his side's stuttering form than their deficit to Chelsea. After losing at home to Arsenal in the league, and Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, both without scoring Pellegrini said it was now more important for his side to refocus on scoring more goals.
"We are not concerned about the gap, we are concerned about how we return to our normal performance," Pellegrini said. "How we can score goals again, how we can resolve problems posed by other teams, that's more important.
"Once again we couldn't create the space against a team that defended with 10 men behind the ball. We didn't have clear chances to score because we are not playing well in attacking.
"It's very clear what we must do, because I think the team is running, has spirit, has possession, we work and we try. We created one chance more, when [Sergio] Aguero hit the crossbar, but we must work and we must try to improve in that sense."
Manchester City had to rescue a last-gasp 1-1 draw at home to Hull City, while Chelsea increased their advantage at the top of the table with a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Aston Villa. James Milner’s stoppage-time free-kick cancelled out David Meyler’s first-half goal for Hull.
At Villa Park, Chelsea took an early lead through Eden Hazard but were pegged back by Jonas Okore scoring Aston Villa’s first league goal in 659 minutes. But Branislav Ivanovic popped up to restore Chelsea’s lead to hand them three points and send them seven clear of the champions.
But Mourinho is refusing to get carried away, reminding his Chelsea team that there are still 42 points left to play for and insisting that City are capable of clawing themselves back.
"In another country I would say it's fantastic, in this country I say it's nothing," he said. "Every game is difficult, anything could happen.
"Seven points means seven points but you have 14 matches to go. You are speaking about 42 points to play for, we have a lead of seven. I think it's nothing. When you are top of the league you don't need the other teams to lose points. If they lose, good, but we have to focus on ourselves.
"If we win the next game we have a seven-point lead with 13 matches to go. I am surprised with nothing in this country. Any team can take points. So no, I am not surprised by [City's result]."
Pellegrini seeks more goals
City manager Manuel Pellegrini was more perturbed by his side's stuttering form than their deficit to Chelsea. After losing at home to Arsenal in the league, and Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, both without scoring Pellegrini said it was now more important for his side to refocus on scoring more goals.
"We are not concerned about the gap, we are concerned about how we return to our normal performance," Pellegrini said. "How we can score goals again, how we can resolve problems posed by other teams, that's more important.
"Once again we couldn't create the space against a team that defended with 10 men behind the ball. We didn't have clear chances to score because we are not playing well in attacking.
"It's very clear what we must do, because I think the team is running, has spirit, has possession, we work and we try. We created one chance more, when [Sergio] Aguero hit the crossbar, but we must work and we must try to improve in that sense."
source: http://www.premierleague.com/
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου