Mourinho accuses Bournemouth of time-wasting

Chelsea’s season plunged new depths on Saturday with a chastening evening against Bournemouth as Jose Mourinho all but ruled out a top four finish.

“Our objective is to finish top four”, the Portuguese told BBC Sport. “However, I think that we should think about the first six positions after this result”. They are 17 points behind the unlikely leaders Leicester City and only three points clear of the relegation places.

After the game, Mourinho insisted Chelsea are not in a relegation battle despite sitting 14th in the top flight, just three points above the drop zone with a congested Christmas fixture list looming.

Bournemouth, with only two wins all season, took the game to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and had the better of the early chances with the returning Thibaut Courtois tested.

The loss plunged Chelsea into crisis again and puts Mourinho’s position under further scrutiny, two months to the day since he was subject of the first vote of confidence in Roman Abramovich’s 12-year ownership.

“In the first-half we were not aggressive enough, we had a couple of shots, a couple of chances but in the second-half we were much more aggressive”.

“I think it was very considerate of Chelsea to swap sides with Leicester this season”.

‘We don’t deserve this result, ‘he said in the post match interview, while also raising issues that the team ought to have been awarded a penalty and that Murray’s goal was offside.

The Brazilian-born Spanish global was given a finger- wagging by referee Mike Jones, had a header cleared off the line and a decent penalty appeal denied. Hazard, who had been returning to his best, looked totally alien in his role.

“To get results, you have to be consistent, and we have not been consistent because of some individualities”.

“We tried in the period where we were stronger but this is the moment when they scored the goal and with five minutes to go with a team that was defending, some people call it intelligent, some people call it lack of play”.

“When it’s 0-0 after 80 minutes they were more nervous than us because we don’t expect anything out of these games really”.

The midfielder, who was so deadly last season, was only able to create one scoring opportunity (of the side’s 15) in the game and his touch was oddly poor for a player that spent so long playing for Barcelona.

“It was so pleasing to see that when Jamie had a chance to score, he passed to Mahrez so he could have his hat-trick”. The relentless chasing that Bournemouth base their game upon leaves little room for error and by the end of the half, Chelsea were starting to find the spaces.

“It’s hard for us to score goals”.

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