Jose Mourinho explains why he dropped Eden Hazard

A first half strike by Diego Costa and an own goal from Alan Hutton gave Chelsea their first win in three matches in the Premier League.

The London side have conceded the second-most goals this season, 17, and first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is still unavailable, targeting a December return.

“Willian and Pedro did a few awesome defensive work”, he said.

They were equally as accommodating on this occasion as Brad Guzan’s woeful clearance and Joleon Lescott’s poor control allowed Willian to nick in before he centred and Costa netted his third of the season. So it was just a tactical decision. I have other possibilities.

“I have to make decisions to try to bring results back”.

“I want them to look at the bigger picture to get the results we need back”.

“We are in it again and we’ll get through it. If we do, then this group of players will grow”.

Diego Costa scored one and created another as Chelsea eased to a comfortable win in front of the Stamford Bridge faithfuls to rise to 11th in the table.

Despite that, Mourinho praised Costa for his showing on Saturday and admitted the way the striker had trained in the past week had given him hope he would have an impact against Villa. Not too long after, a goal scoring opportunity came on Villa’s right side from an unusual source in Hutton, who was strong enough to outmuscle Rahman down the by-line before his shot towards the near post was saved by Asmir Begovic and his rebound was dragged horribly wide. We didn’t. We took it to them from the first minute and were unlucky not to go ahead.

After getting the much needed victory, Chelsea would now turn their focus to the UEFA Champions League, as they travel to Dynamo Kiev next Tuesday.

“Especially when we are not playing at our top level”.

“So let’s try to keep this mentality and this tactical attitude”.

His side sit in the bottom three with just four points to their name after nine games, four points adrift of newly promoted Bournemouth in 17 place.

Brendan Rodgers, recently dismissed by Liverpool, has been mentioned as a potential successor, although he had made it clear he will take the rest of the season away from the game.

Sherwood, who was appointed in February, said: “I’ve had no indication that the clock’s ticking”.

“I’m under no illusions”. When confident is not high you lose quality.