Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho couldn’t wait to open his mouth after league leader Manchester United dropped its first points in the Premiership since losing 2-1 to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium Jan. 21st. The shock 2-1 loss against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Saturday closed the gap between Chelsea and United to just three points. It was also the club’s second loss in a row, after losing to Roma 2-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday. United’s losses left Mourinho sensing a wounded animal.
Responding to Man U manager Alex Ferguson’s suggestion that Tottenham, which Chelsea beat 1-0 earlier in the day, wasn’t given enough time to recover from Thursday’s UEFA Cup match against Sevilla before playing at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Mourinho said Ferguson’s comments were those of a man lashing out. “I was not surprised he complained about this fixture because he is intelligent and maybe he thinks the other people are stupid,” he said, continuing to lavish on him praise of his intelligence, before adding flatly: “They are very lucky because they don’t play here next week. Can you imagine Man Utd playing at Stamford Bridge next week? They are very lucky.”
Indeed, were it not for the FA Cup semifinals, United would be away to Chelsea this weekend. After his team’s steady victory over Tottenham on Saturday, Mourinho believes his men would have been the more confident going into the crucial match, which has now been rescheduled for May 9, making it the second-to-last game of the season.