Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 2
Jose Mourinho described Chelsea’s seven-point lead over Premier League title rivals Manchester City as “nothing” after their win at Aston Villa.
Jores Okore’s second half header cancelled out Eden Hazard’s early goal, only for Branislav Ivanovic to bag Chelsea the three points with a stunning strike.
The win proved vital as Manchester City laboured to a 1-1 draw with Hull, but Mourinho refuses to get ahead of himself.
“Seven points means seven points, we have 14 matches to go,” he said.
“We are speaking about 42 points to play for and in 42 we have a lead of seven. I think it’s nothing.”
The win comes after Chelsea were unable to extend their lead over City last week, when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Ahead of their clash with out-of-form Everton on Wednesday, Mourinho highlighted the difficulty of the Premier League when discussing Chelsea’s lead at its summit.
“I would say in another league – done,” he said.
“In the Premier League, I would say far from done because the Premier League is the only league where any team can take points from the top teams.
“You go to other leagues and the teams from the second part of the table, they play the top teams and they lose, they lose easily with big results.
“We have 14 matches left and that’s a long way to go.”
Okore’s goal ended Villa’s run of six league games without one, though they now sit at 16th in the table, just two points above the drop zone.
However, manager Paul Lambert denied his side are at risk of relegation because of the strength of their squad.
“A team with so many good players is not a team in trouble,” he said.
“The teams in trouble are the ones without good players and Aston Villa’s is a squad filled with good players.”
