Chelsea: Jose Mourinho blasts players for ‘betraying’ him after Leicester defeat

The coach, however, is adamant his players do not need to concern themselves with a fight to retain their Premier League status.

Neither Jamie Vardy nor Riyad Mahrez will be sold by Leicester City as Claudio Ranieri says the pair “don’t have a price”.

Indeed, the Chelsea centre-back was extremely slow to react as Riyad Mahrez crossed in for Jamie Vardy to net the opener for the Foxes against the Blues on Monday.

The bad times rolled on today when league-leading (!!!!!) Leicester City came in and smashed up on the reigning champions, who now sit one point above the relegation zone (!!!!!).

Leicester went two points clear of Arsenal at the EPL summit Monday with a deserved 2-0 victory over Chelsea as the champion slumped to a ninth league defeat. They were the best team for about an hour, very consistent, very focused not making mistakes, aggressive with everybody playing high intensity, high tempo great mentality and hard for us. Mourinho had just one word to say: “Yes”. “I’ll just finish the season and then we’ll see”, he added.

As with any man backed into a corner, Mourinho’s tirade was nearly completely about himself, and how the prior season’s achievements were thanks to him, and him alone.

He said that last season, he brought the players “to a level that is not their level, that is more than they really are”.

Ranieri and Mourinho crossed their paths a few times before, mostly in the Serie A. Unusually for Mourinho, they developed a sort of friendship based on plenty of respect. But they impressed me throughout the team and the story goes on. My best quality is to read the opposition and identify their qualities, so to concede two goals like we did is unacceptable for me. Five points. I don’t know when we can achieve these five points. It’s the third year in succession that the teams have played each other in the UCL.

The Portuguese admitted his frustrations at the difference in level between what he sees in training and on a match day.

Eden Hazard left the pitch in the first half after a challenge from Vardy and Mourinho said the midfielder had taken the decision not to continue.