Mourinho still incensed by Villa defeat

Jose Mourinho remains incensed by the refereeing performance he feels cost Chelsea in a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa earlier this month.

Ramires and Willian both saw red during the clash, which also saw Mourinho sent to the stands by referee Chris Foy.

The Portuguese is currently awaiting a personal hearing over his improper conduct charge from the Football Association, but did not hold back when questioned over the incident on Friday.

“What happened in the defeat against Villa, I will never accept,” he said. “I have a lot of experience in years of football and I learned a lot of things.

“One of the things I learned is you can win, you can lose, and if you lose in the right way, you have to move on.

“The only thing I didn’t learn was to lose with that kind of refereeing performance. Because it is not a mistake, it is a performance.

“The team is playing well for a long, long time. Somebody was very successful in putting a hurdle in front of us and we crashed the hurdle against Aston Villa.”

Chelsea travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday, with many believing the Stamford Bridge outfit have an easier run-in than fellow title chasers Manchester City and Liverpool – but Mourinho does not agree.

“The most difficult because we play Champions League and they don’t,” he added. “We have to play matches with two and three days in between.

“We have to change our focus from Premier League to Champions League … and play big matches against Paris (Saint-Germain).

“We have no time to prepare matches like they have. I think it’s a big advantage. An advantage that City has just now, an advantage Liverpool have had since the beginning of the season.”

With reports suggesting Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League opponents PSG are eyeing bids for Eden Hazard and Oscar, Mourinho joked the club would be forced to consider selling the duo should they receive a bid of £300million.