Jose Mourinho is pinning his hopes on old foes Liverpool to
drag Chelsea back into the Barclays Premiership title race. While
the Blues were toasting Carling Cup success in Cardiff, Manchester
United took the opportunity to move nine points clear of Mourinho's
men with victory at Fulham.
Mourinho is unconcerned about the points gap, believing his side
are in exactly the same situation they were before the weekend,
albeit needing to win their game in hand against Manchester City to
close the deficit to six once more. However, with the final stages
of the run-in fast approaching, Mourinho is aware the next change
in fortune needs to favour Chelsea, otherwise any hopes of
emulating United's unique hat-trick of Premiership crowns can be
dismissed.
So, with the Red Devils facing one of their toughest tests of the
entire campaign at Anfield on Saturday lunchtime, Mourinho is
looking for a favour from Rafael Benitez's boys. "We have to keep
winning and see whether the next step is to close the gap, or for
it to widen," observed Mourinho, whose side visit out-of-form
Portsmouth at the weekend.
No-one at Chelsea is forgetting United still have to visit Stamford
Bridge, although it is looking increasingly likely the Londoners
will have to win the clash if they are to stand any chance of
overhauling Sir Alex Ferguson's men. The worry for Chelsea is the
game will turn out to be meaningless anyway if, as expected, it is
put back from its present April 15 date to the final midweek of the
season because one of the title rivals reach the FA Cup
semi-finals.
No-one within the Blues camp is ready to throw in the towel just
yet. But, as Mourinho suggests, fortune appears to be favouring
United just now, with the Fulham win yet another example of Lady
Luck smiling on them. "The information I have is that it was a
completely undeserved result," said Mourinho. "Football is like
this. Sometimes you win when you should lose. But it appears
everything is on their side at the moment. "This is a season when
they have had no injuries. In previous seasons that has happened to
us.
"The only thing we can do is try to progress in the knockout
competitions and, at this moment, we are in the last 16 in the
Champions League and the last eight of the FA Cup."