Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea’s exuberant celebrations at the weekend were because of the win over Manchester United, not because they feel they have already won the Premier League.
Despite only having 29% of possession for the entire game, their worst percentage at home all season, the Blues picked up another three points thanks to Eden Hazard’s first half goal.
That means Chelsea are just two wins away from lifting the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2010, as long as the first of those wins comes at Arsenal next week, but Mourinho knows there is still work to do.
“The celebrations were because we beat one of the biggest teams in the world,” he said.
“I understand that. The players gave everything to win the game and they felt the result of the work they had done all week to prepare.
“Football is not about ‘if’, it’s not about ‘almost’, it’s about mathematics.
“When mathematically it’s done, we celebrate. Until that moment we need two victories to be champions.”
After an opening 30 minutes dominated by the visitors, Chelsea found the difference when a perfectly-weighted Oscar back-heel found Hazard, who burst through and scored with his side’s first attempt on target.
The win was Chelsea’s fourth in a row determined by just one goal and Mourinho was pleased with the team’s adoption of this new, measured strategy.
“The team were fantastic, I’m the one that knows how fantastic they were because the game was exactly what we wanted,” he said.
“When you manage to play the game you want to play, it’s fantastic.
“The players were magnificent, on top of that Eden had that magic the top players have, especially in big matches.”
Despite seeing his side’s six game winning streak ended, United boss Louis Van Gaal believes it was their best performance of the season at Stamford Bridge.
“I am not frustrated. I am very proud of my team,” he said.
“We played our best match of the season but in football you can lose a match even when you are the better team.”
Image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks
