After cup, Blues pursue league title
Print Edition
SUGGESTIONS that Chelsea effectively bagged two trophies on Sunday were presumptuous but it makes the trip across town to West Ham United tomorrow with a vice-like grip on the Premier League title race.
Manchester City’s 1-2 defeat by Liverpool shortly before Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur to lift the English League Cup at Wembley was a huge bonus for Jose Mourinho’s side as it pursues a first league title since 2010.
Five points clear of faltering champion City with a game in hand, it is beginning to look untouchable.
West Ham, after flirting with the top four earlier in the season, has fallen away and Chelsea will be buoyant at Upton Park in a fixture it usually dominates — losing only one of the last 17 league clashes between the sides.
But Mourinho is not taking anything for granted.
“It’s in the hands of everyone,” Mourinho said after the 2-0 League Cup final victory. “We have lots of difficult matches to play. City have difficult matches.
City will hope to get back on track in a home game against bottom club Leicester City while third-placed Arsenal, which is nine adrift of Chelsea, is at Queens Park Rangers.
On Sunday, Chelsea’s players paraded the League Cup, Mourinho’s first triumph since winning the 2012 Spanish title with Real Madrid that ensured his second season back at Chelsea will not end trophyless like his first. “For the club it’s one more cup,” he said. “But it’s the first one of a new team.”
It was the oldest player in the starting lineup, though, who scored the opening goal at Wembley Stadium: John Terry.
With the aid of a ricochet off Tottenham defender Eric Dier, the 34-year-old captain netted from close range past Hugo Lloris just before half time. Diego Costa’s attempted shot then span into the net off Kyle Walker’s outstretched leg in the 56th minute.
“Spurs made us be humble and think in this game strategically to win this final,” said Mourinho, who won five trophies in his 2004-07 spell as Chelsea manager — starting with the League Cup.
Terry and goalkeeper Petr Cech were the only players on the Wembley Stadium pitch who also started that League Cup final a decade ago.
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