English Premier League: Mourinho sees limitations as Chelsea stumble

Blues held 1-1 by West Brom after Anichebe’s late equalizer.

WEST BROMWICH: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho felt that his team’s draw against West Bromwich Albion underlined his controversial claim that they are the underdogs in the Premier League title battle.

Substitute Victor Anichebe’s late equaliser on Tuesday earned West Brom a 1-1 draw, after Branislav Ivanovic’s goal in first-half stoppage time had given Chelsea the lead.

Mourinho played down his side’s chances in the race to be crowned champions following their recent 1-0 victory over City at the Etihad Stadium, referring to them as the title race’s ‘little horse’.

Asked if the result against West Brom supported his comments, he replied: “Yes. A complete team kills this game – 2-0, goodbye. We didn’t.”

“I think it was not very different to the City win because we had a lot of chances to kill the game and we never killed it.

“In the last 20 minutes, we made a couple of defensive mistakes. In the end, I think they deserved it because of their efforts.”

Mourinho refused to point the finger at individuals, but he admitted that his team had lacked ‘personality’.

“We as a team made mistakes,” he said. “I think [we have] a bit of a lack of personality. We must have the personality to get out. But at the end of the day it is one more point and we have one more than the previous day.”

Pochettino impressed with Saints victory over Hull

Southampton extended their unbeaten run to six matches on Tuesday with a 1-0 win over Hull in their league clash. A 69th-minute goal by Jose Fonte was enough to give the visitors the points.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino, who forged his reputation as a coach at Spanish side Espanyol, said that it had been a complete performance by his side.

“We put in an amazing shift,” he said. “We dominated the entire game from start to finish.

“We’re very happy with the performance. The entire team always plays for each other. That’s the Southampton way.”

Bellamy gets three-game ban for de Guzman clash

Craig Bellamy was banned for three games with immediate effect on Tuesday after accepting a Football Association (FA) charge of violent conduct.

The charge arose out of the Cardiff forward’s clash with Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman in last weekend’s south Wales derby.

Bellamy appeared to catch de Guzman with his arm during the second half of Swansea’s 3-0 victory at their Liberty Stadium ground on Saturday.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.

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