Chelsea have landed an
awards double with Jose Mourinho being named Barclays manager of
the month for March and goalkeeper Petr Cech the player of the
month.
The Blues recorded four league wins without conceding a goal in
March to maintain the pressure on Manchester United and keep their
hopes of a quadruple alive.
Mourinho, as ever, was the mastermind behind the impressive run of
form, but Czech Republic international Cech also played a crucial
role in goal to continue his comeback from a life-threatening head
injury sustained in October.
The former Rennes star becomes the first keeper to win the award
since Leicester City's Tim Flowers in September 2000, and Mourinho
was delighted with the efforts of his whole squad after claiming
his first monthly award since January 2005.
"As I was saying before when they gave me the trophy you can call
it 'manager of the month' but for me it is more 'team of the
month'," said Mourinho.
"We won every game and played well and my players deserve the
trophy. I cannot complain. I was 'manager of the year' in the last
two years in the Premiership.
"Last month we won every game and we played more matches than other
people because we had to play matches in hand.
"We didn't concede one single goal, and played well, it is
normal."