Costa goal lifts weight off striker’s shoulders – Mourinho

Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley scored two goals apiece as Everton thrashed Aston Villa 4-0 at Goodison Park, leaving the Villans rock-bottom of the Premier League, while Stoke star Bojan marked his return from injury with the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Southampton.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is backing his side to come good against Norwich City. The power is with the board and they have shown to me and the players that they trust us. Important for us, the result and the goal, but I think also for him.

Several of the club’s top players including Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas have failed to reach the levels of performance that they displayed last season, and that has in turn had a negative impact on the team as a whole. “Four months without national teams”.

Indeed, Chelsea’s W3-D2-L7 record through the course of their first 12 league fixtures leaves them one point behind Norwich in 16 in the league table and it is worth noting that the Canaries posted a W4-D1-L1 record through the course of their first six Premier League meetings with the Stamford Bridge club.

According to Goal’s Stephen Darwin, Mourinho summed up his side’s title chances like this: “If you ask me about the title, I would say impossible mission”.

“I don’t need to clean the dressing room, like I heard was written somewhere. We are never lucky and you put Chelsea in a position where in the last four minutes the team that rarely crossed the halfway line, they have a throw in, a corner, a rebound, and we could lose two points, which would again be very undeserved”. “We put ourselves together in this situation in the Premier League; we have to be together, again, to put it right”. Every game that you don’t score goals, you have five kilos more. I will not ask the board for any changes in January.

“I don’t need an anthem to feel sorry for the victims and the families that are suffering, for a country that was a strong target, but it’s a nice way to do it and I’m more than happy to participate”, said Mourinho. The situation is good in the squad.

Chelsea play away to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“Everybody is thinking why has it happened, but with the quality they have got, Chelsea are capable of turning it around”, Neil said at a press conference.

Mourinho expects to have his squad bolstered by Radamel Falcao and Thibaut Courtois returning to fitness over the coming weeks.

They had a penalty shout of their own in the 33rd minute when the impressive Robbie Brady went down under Willian’s challenge.

An away meeting with the defending champions is as tough as they come, but here we are, almost a third of the way through the campaign, and it is Norwich who find themselves in a slightly better position.