Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes the Premier League will be a more open division this season. will be contested by more than the usual ‘big-four’ teams this season.
Speaking after Chelsea’s unexpected 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday, Mourinho said: “It will become more normal for the big teams to lose matches and points.
“The other teams outside the top four have spent lots of money and brought players in to bolster their teams.
“Villa are one example but you can find a lot of other examples.”
“It will be more difficult to play against these teams because they are better.
“The league is open but it is the first weekend of September and we are only five matches into the season.”
“Aston Villa played well, Chelsea played well and in my opinion a point each would have been a fair result.
“But Chelsea made a mistake you cannot make. We are very organised in defence at set pieces.
“But a game that we were in control of after a solid first half changed with that goal early in the second half. After that, Villa were well organised, showed great spirit and had the crowd behind them.
“The second goal means nothing to me in the context of the game. That can happen sometimes in the last couple of minutes when you are pushing forward.
“I accept the result but don’t think it’s fair – but Villa did not make the sort of mistake that we made.’
Mourinho was also keen to play down the significance of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich leaving the match shortly after Villa scored their second goal. There were reports that Abramovich had left the ground but he later visited the Chelsea dressing room to shake hands with the players.
“I think the owner leaves the stadium when he wants to leave,” Mourinho said.
“I went to see England-Germany the other day and I left early because I wanted to beat the traffic.”
