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Jose Mourinho mocks critics as Chelsea top Premier League

Football

By -BBC | Sep 22, 2013

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho mocked his critics after a first win in three Premier League games moved the Blues top of the table on goal difference.

Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Fulham ended a run of four games without a win in all competitions, a sequence Mourinho jokingly described as "very bad".

"That's what I read - it was a disaster," said the Portuguese.

"It looks like for the others, to lose is a normal thing and it looks like for us it's the end of the world."

Chelsea went into the Fulham match with seven points from their first four games - their worst tally at that stage of a league season in 10 years.

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But second-half goals from Oscar and John Mikel Obi helped them leapfrog rivals Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, who, like Chelsea, have all lost one league game this season.

A victory for City, United, Arsenal or Spurs on Sunday would take them back above Chelsea after five games.

"After a bad start that everybody kept telling me is the worst start for about a decade, today I go to bed and look at the table and nobody is in front of us," Mourinho added.

"I've been in football for a long time and when results are not good I'm not expecting people to speak well about our team.

"But I'm building a different team and the most difficult thing is first to change the philosophy. That takes a little bit of time.

"We are not playing especially well, the results are not especially good, but the beauty of the Premier League is that everybody loses points, so no dramas.

"The reality is we are there - we have 10 points. I have to say I never worked so hard as I'm doing this season with this group of players."

While Oscar repaid Mourinho's faith in him by opening the scoring from close range against the Cottagers, the marginalisation of Juan Mata continued as the Spanish playmaker did not even make the Blues' 18-man squad.

Mourinho said Mata would feature at Swindon in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday and challenged the Spaniard to prove him wrong.

"I hope he tells me on the pitch 'you are wrong, I'm the best and I have to play every game'," said Mourinho.

"I would love that. I'm waiting for a professional reaction. I want him to be fantastic. I hope he can.

"I gave Juan the chance to play from the beginning against Aston Villa, from the beginning against Everton, 30-35 minutes against Basel.

"The past is the past, what matters is now. You have to be judged for what you do now.

"I have my options, but the thing that I most love in football is when the players prove that I'm wrong."

-BBC