Sunderland come to town: Mourinho water under the Bridge

Manager-less Blues play first match since Portuguese’s sacking

LONDON:

Jose Mourinho’s abrupt departure from Chelsea has put the crisis-torn champions’ clash with Sunderland on Saturday firmly in the spotlight on a weekend that would otherwise have been dominated by Premier League title tilts.

Mourinho will be gone but not forgotten at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea’s players and fans get the chance to respond to the polarising Portuguese coach’s sacking.

Dismissed on Thursday just days after a 2-1 defeat at Leicester left the Blues languishing one point above the relegation zone, Mourinho had apparently lost the support of a significant section of the Chelsea squad.



Suggestions that several players — Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic reportedly among them — had grown unhappy with Mourinho were substantiated by Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo’s talk of “palpable discord between the manager and players”.

Mourinho had claimed after the Leicester loss that he had been ‘betrayed’ by his players and, with that in mind, it will be fascinating to see how Chelsea’s underachieving stars perform now.

There will be also be plenty of focus on the Stamford Bridge stands, where Chelsea’s fans had remained loyal to Mourinho right until the bitter end.



Even at Leicester they were chanting his name and their reaction during the Sunderland game will show whether Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s move has the support of the masses.

Chelsea can ill-afford a 10th league defeat of the season, especially against a Sunderland side only three points behind them, as the West Londoners aim to climb away from the relegation zone.

“I cannot explain why consistency has been so difficult to achieve. I don’t know what happened to us against Leicester,” said Matic.



Mourinho’s exit has overshadowed a big weekend in the title race as second-placed Arsenal host third-placed Manchester City on Monday, while surprise leaders Leicester travel to Everton on Saturday.

“Leicester deserve to be top of the league,” said Everton manager Roberto Martinez. “I think [Leicester manager] Claudio Ranieri deserves all the credit for developing belief in that team. Of course they are title contenders. I don’t see why they shouldn’t be.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2015.

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