Willian winner the mark of champions, says Mourinho

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suggested that Willian's last-minute goal to give his side a 1-0 victory over Everton was the hallmark of champions.


It looked as if Chelsea's lead over Manchester City at the top of the Barclays Premier League would be cut to five points with the champions winning 4-1 at Stoke City and Mourinho's team being held by a stubborn Everton defence, with the returning Tim Howard in goal the Merseyside club's hero.


But shortly after Everton's Gareth Barry was sent off for a second booking, Willian's deflected strike in the 89th minute beat Howard and earned Chelsea the three points to maintain the seven-point gap.


"I don't remember a team being champions without a couple of victories in the last minute," Mourinho said. "Every time I won a league title we had a couple of matches we won in the last minute.


"It was the first time this season. So, so happy with the points."


Mourinho's team looked set to drop points at home for only the second time this season thanks to the visiting side's resolve, which earned the Chelsea manager's praise.


"A very difficult match," he said. "A different Everton and when I say a different Everton it is a compliment, it's not a critic. They were a very difficult opponent, so [I am] happy with the points."





Everton manager Roberto Martinez cursed his team's luck and felt that they might have inflicted Chelsea's first home defeat of the season in the league but for the heroics of Petr Cech, the Blues goalkeeper.


"We were in control," Martinez said. "We had clear-cut chances, the best ones of the game. They needed world-class saves from Petr Cech.


"It's a shame we couldn't convert the chances. It's a huge disappointment. Our performance deserved a positive result."


Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said he was not thinking about catching Chelsea after his side's convincing win over Stoke, their first at the Britannia Stadium in the Barclays Premier League and their first in four league matches.


Sergio Aguero rediscovered his scoring form to strike twice, while James Milner and Samir Nasri got the others after Peter Crouch had made the score 1-1.


"We needed this victory because in the last four games we didn't do it," Pellegrini said. "Stoke are a tough team. I think we scored just one goal in the last three games against Stoke so to score four goals here is very important for the trust of the team. We will see if we can continue the same way in the future.


"We are not thinking about Chelsea. If they lose points it is good for us but the first thing for our team is to recover the sensation of [being] a good, solid team. That was the target and we did it."

source: http://www.premierleague.com/