Chelsea manager José Mourinho has taken a swipe at Manchester United by saying that their hopes of retaining the title are over after David Moyes’ team suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of his team. Manchester United were the visitors to Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea have enjoyed a good record this season. Moyes was coming into the match without two of his main players – Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie – not available due to fitness issues. The former Everton manager has not won in 47 matches against the traditional top four of Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal.
This record continued on Sunday after his team lost 3-1 following a hat-trick from Samuel Eto’o. The Cameroon international opened the scoring with a deflected effort, but it was largely due to the inept defending of United. His second goal also showed the huge defensive lapses within the champions. Immediately after the second half began, Chelsea were cruising after the 32-year-old poked in an effort from close range. Nemanja Vidic was sent off in a few minutes from time, while Rafael could also have received a red card for his two footed lunge on Gary Cahill.
As a result of this defeat, United have fallen a massive 14 points behind Arsenal in the table. Mourinho says that it is impossible to win the title from this position.
“Maybe if I say [United are out of title contention], some people from United would ask: ‘Who am I to say that?’. But I don’t think David will be upset if I say the reality: 14 points difference and 13 and 12 [to the others]. Can they recover to one of those teams? They can but to three of them? It needs three teams to have almost a collapse,” said Mourinho after the match.