Jose Mourinho: Win or Lose, I am Fantastic

After Eden Hazard had missed an early penalty, Willian put the hosts in front and Maccabi’s hopes were effectively ended when Oscar converted from the spot on the stroke of half-time.

Newcastle, Sunderland and Stoke – the three top tier sides still waiting for a first league win this term – aim to end their barren runs against Watford, Bournemouth and Leicester respectively.

“We didn’t start the season well and when you see Chelsea so far down the table you have to check twice to make sure this is happening”, he said. When they get Ozil and Sanchez in a central position they are able to play good quality balls on the deck for Theo’s pace.

“I prefer that than they say “Mourinho out” and they boo me and so on”, he said.

After such an uninspiring start from Maccabi, Chelsea were lulled into a false sense of security at the back and the Israelis should have equalised when Eran Zahavi was left unmarked from Nikola Mitrovic’s free-kick, but the forward’s tame header looped harmlessly over.

The ESPN FC panel answer your tweets on English Premier League being the best league in the world and whether Chelsea are back after defeating Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4-0 in UCL.

The 19-year-old indicated that confidence was low ahead of the Champions League game and the big win came as a huge relief for the squad.

Manager Jose Mourinho has insisted he is still the right man for the job and has dismissed talk of a crisis at the club, despite being under pressure.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has played down the reports that there is rift between him and his captain, John Terry. At 31 years of age, he would appear to be too young to regress so badly in such a short time, and perhaps he will quickly return to his old, dominant self.

“On one hand it would be a surprise of course if we won because before Juventus, Man City scored 11 goals and didn’t concede, they are cruising”, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said.

Speaking after the match, Mourinho told BT Sport: “I am happy with the result and the performance”.

Midfield: Nemanja Matic is another who was left out against Maccabi but he’s expected to be recalled on Saturday with Ruben Loftus-Cheek dropping out despite his encouraging display in Europe. “(But) winning games breeds confidence, breeds momentum, happiness – and that’s just what we need“.

“Missing the penalty I think was a good thing to test the team”. I don’t think it’s a problem, to be fair.