The best fan pictures as Stoke City beat Chelsea 1-0

Chris Sutton accuses Jose Mourinho of behaving “like a petulant big baby” ahead of tonight’s stadium ban against Stoke City.

Chelsea continue to tumble down the English Premier League ladder.

There was no immediate reaction from the club on Mourinho’s future on Saturday night but the board will doubtless discuss the subject over the next day.

The Blues lost just three league matches last season when it won the Premier League title.

While Chelsea supporters repeatedly chanted the name of their absent manager, the home support were more intent on venting their anger at visiting forward Diego Costa, whose physical, often petty, battle with Ryan Shawcross was one of the contest’s main talking points. However, it has to go in the referee’s report which will be sent to the FA. He refused. I asked him again.

“The players were clearly putting it in and Chelsea played well”.

But Norwich City pulled away from danger, climbing above Chelsea and Newcastle after Jonny Howson’s 70th-minute tap-in gave Alex Neil’s men a 1-0 home win over over Swansea City.

“You’ve only got to look at their form”, Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports afterwards. Chelsea shouldn’t be where they are. They’re losing games regularly.

The Toffees arrived in the capital boasting a 14-game unbeaten streak in the league against the Hammers, yet they fell behind in the first half when Manuel Lanzini found the top corner on the half-hour mark. Brighter play, sharper, working harder.

He said: “We definitely did enough to get a result here, but when things aren’t going your way you don’t get the luck you deserve”.

Lampard said that he did not believe that Mourinho’s absence had a material effect. “I personally think he should stay but he must be very close to the edge”.

A magnificent strike from Marko Arnautovic knocked the stuffing out of Chelsea who unlike their manager at least turned up and created plenty of chances.

Stoke confirmed that a member of their security staff had reported Costa to match referee Anthony Taylor, but a Chelsea spokesman said: “This claim is utter nonsense”. Shaqiri beat his man time after time to put Stoke on the offensive and the Ghanaian may have been relieved to be substituted in the second half. It’s dependent on the manager. A manager like Jose, yes they would have missed him.