After losing to Bournemouth, Jose Mourinho admits doubts over Chelsea`s top

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said a top-six Premier League finish may be the best his side can hope for after an eighth defeat of the campaign against Bournemouth yesterday.

AFC Bournemouth super sub, Glenn Murray’s late header secured a 1-0 victory for the team at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and protracted Mourinho’s agony.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea languish in 14th position, 14 points adrift of Manchester United, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot.

“I’m concerned, of course”.

“Obviously Chelsea will never be fighting for relegation, no chance, we will win matches and we will get out of this area, that’s not the problem”. That is not the problem.

“Our objective is to fight for top four, but maybe now we have to think of finishing top six”. “They looked so sharp a year ago, it looks to me like so many of their players are running in quicksand, that sharpness isn’t there”.

Chelsea now face a crucial game in midweek as they take on Porto in their final Champions League group stage game. Now, we are not winning but I am still learning.

“I explain the inconsistency with unlucky details”, Mourinho said.

The self-described “Special One” had seemed to have weathered the storm that engulfed the club in the autumn as the champions tumbled towards the relegation zone in one of the most spectacular swings of fortune ever seen in English football. “I just try to play my game, help the team like every player wants to do”.

Chelsea also had a penalty decision turned down and Murray was slightly offside as he knocked the ball past Thibaut Courtois, who walked into the side for his first game after a two-month injury lay-off. And I think it is a clear handball and penalty with the score at 0-0.

The win allowed Bournemouth to climb out of the bottom three and manager Eddie Howe was delighted to add another chapter to the extraordinary story of a small-town club that teetered on the brink of bankruptcy just a few years ago.

Yes, they turned up the heat by half time but the pattern of the game would have been very different had Bournemouth scored with the chances they had had during the first half.