‘Best team won, in my opinion’ Mourinho says after Chelsea win over Liverpool

Demba Ba pounces on Steve Gerrard mistake while Chelsea's defence does the rest in 2-0 victory over Liverpool, which tightens English Premier League title race.

Demba Ba of Chelsea, centre, steals the ball from Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, left, and scores in the final minute of the first half on Sunday. Darren Staples / Reuters

LIVERPOOL // Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was unrepentant about his tactics at Liverpool as his team secured a 2-0 win over the Premier League leaders yesterday that blew open the title race.

A mistake by Steven Gerrard let Demba Ba score the opener in added time at the end of the first half, and with seconds remaining, substitute Willian added a second goal on the break.

The visitors successfully stifled Liverpool’s attacking flair, with Mourinho’s side employing every trick in the book to slow down play, but it more than paid off as the usually free-scoring league leaders ran out of ideas.

“The best team won, in my opinion,” Mourinho said. “Defensive display? I am a bit confused what the media thinks about defensive displays.

“When a team defends well, you call it a defensive display. When a team defends badly and concedes two or three goals you don’t consider it a defensive display.

“When Liverpool started to put balls in the air for Mark [Schwarzer], [Gary] Cahill and [Branislav] Ivanovic, they were like fish in water because it was so easy for them.

“The team played brilliantly. Every player was magnificent. No mistakes. I think it was a fantastic performance by my players.

“I am not looking for credit. I am very happy with my players, they know how pleased I am with their work and that is what they need from me.

“Time-wasting. What’s that? You never spoke about this when we played lot of matches this season.”

The win moved Chelsea to two points behind Liverpool at the top of the table. Manchester City, with a match in hand, stand just a point farther behind after their 2-0 win at Crystal Palace and have the superior goal difference.

It appears the title race will go down to the wire, but Mourinho does not consider his team to be contenders.

“There is no chance. We were waiting for this match to be the title match [decider] for a long time, but for some reason this match didn’t become the title match,” he said. “It was three important points and we need one more to finish third and if we finish third we are in the Champions League automatically.

“A champion is only one team, so we don’t want a trophy to finish third, but we can say we won both matches against the champion as we won both against Liverpool and against City.”

Gerrard’s slip in possession just inside his own half allowed Ba in to score and proved the key moment of the match, but Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers attached no blame to his captain for the error, and admitted Chelsea’s methods made his task particularly difficult.

“Steven is a boy who has picked up this club so many times, and it was just really unfortunate because he slipped at a crucial moment and it was right on half-time,” he said. “He was doing everything he possibly could and we hoped there would be one or two who would step up to the plate instead of him, but we couldn’t quite do that today.

“There’s certainly no blame because we are in the position we are in now because of him. He’s been instrumental for us this season.

Wenger says his Arsenal side cannot look past Newcastle United

Newcastle United may be on a run of five defeats in succession, but Arsene Wenger warned his Arsenal side not to take them lightly on Monday night at the Emirates Stadium.

A victory for Arsenal would move them five points clear of fifth-place Everton and leave them close to securing a Uefa Champions League place for next season.

Wenger said: “You know that Newcastle have quality, so of course we have to prepare like we will face a Premier League battle. The exciting thing in the Premier League is that everybody fights for every game and we have to prepare for that.”

Captain Thomas Vermaelen is set to be available again after sitting out the 3-0 win at Hull City with a hamstring problem.

Midfielder Abou Diaby made a return from a knee injury when he played for the under-21 side in midweek, but will not be rushed back for tonight’s game after reporting a minor groin problem.

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