Premier League week 11: Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United
Manchester United let go precious points in chase of rivals Man City which had beaten Arsenal earlier and now sit 8 points behind the leader. Chelsea win third straight and now sit one point behind United.
Coach Mourinho on the loss:
“I think they scored in the only period they were on top in the game but apart from, that the game was even. The game was controlled by us and the game was controlled by them. We had chances and they had chances and with the first goal they found themselves winning and were able to bring more people to defend but, even so, knowing they can defend with a lot of people. We had a go, we tried to change the direction of our game. We created chances to equalize but we couldn’t.
The players had the attitude, the courage, they gave absolutely everything. We clearly deserved a late goal with so much pressure that we put on them. I think we were punished by one mistake and I think we saw two strong teams.
We are second – not fifth, sixth or seventh or eighth. We have 18 teams in a more difficult position than we have. Eight points is eight points. We went through a very difficult phase with probably the most important matches against Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea without important players. I don’t like to speak [about injuries] and it’s not after a defeat that I’m going to speak but it’s obvious that we went through a difficult phase with limitations.”
Coach Conte praises his team for a great performance:
“We were all looking forward to playing the game and the team came back in a very strong way. Obviously after such a disappointment last Tuesday we wanted to show our team spirit and we did it, we came back to winning ways in a very good game.
We could have scored more goals and everybody made a huge effort, it’s what we needed. Last year, at one stage we were eight points behind and we went on a winning run, so I hope we can do the same,’ he said.
You have to hope they drop points. At the moment they look unstoppable, they are playing well and scoring a lot of goals, but you never know. A season is very long and they might start playing a bit worse and losing some games, so we have to be there and keep winning our games. Hopefully we can fight for the title until the end of the season.”
