Begovic backing for Mourinho

Newcastle, meanwhile, moved out of the relegation zone following a 1-0 away win against Bournemouth.

It is the first time ever that Jose Mourinho, who was banned from the stadium by the FA over his behaviour towards officials at West Ham, has suffered seven defeats in a season.

But they fell behind eight minutes into the second half when Chelsea old boy Glen Johnson’s right-wing cross was inadvertently helped on by Jon Walters to Arnautovic, who volleyed in superbly at the far post.

“Last season, when we were champions, for the first 10 or 15 games we also did not look at the table – we just tried to take things game by game and collect as many points as possible”.

A large crowd of supporters from both clubs greeted the Chelsea team bus as it arrived outside the ground approximately 90 minutes before the Premier League fixture kicked off. “They need to turn the corner very quickly, they need get results, it’s as simple as that”, stated Lampard. And despite his name being frequently chanted by Blues fans at the game, the questions about the prospect of Mourinho being fired will only intensify after this latest poor result.

“They are still in the Champions League and, even though it was a loss, this was an excellent performance at Stoke and not a display of a team that has lost faith in its manager”. We think he is the right man and someone we work hard for.

He said: “This time we’ve played at Chelsea at home, it’s a full house at night and it’s on TV and you want to win … now we have to do it every week”.

The Blues have won the last three Premier League encounters by an aggregate score of 7-1, with Stoke’s last league victory against them coming in a 3-2 win in December 2013.

“The coach has always been behind us and we are behind him just like the supporters are”.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has scored only three goals this season and against Stoke his performance was once again most notable for the frequent skirmishes he got into.

Ryan Shawcross got himself on the referee’s book for thrusting a strong arm towards Costa’s face.