Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho claims that the Premier League title race is wide open this season after his side suffered their first league defeat for eight months.
It was back on 20th January that Chelsea were last beaten in the Premier League - until Aston Villa inflicted another 2-0 reverse on them at Villa Park on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho put a brave face on the unexpected defeat by insisting that claiming that his Chelsea side had “dominated” the encounter - even though Villa keeper Scott Carson had only one save to make.
And after Chelsea missed their chance to replace Liverpool at the top of the Premiership table, Mourinho said the increased spending power of clubs like Aston Villa means that the 'Big Four' will all drop more points this season.
Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich left his seat at Villa Park the moment Martin O'Neill's side scored their second goal through Gabriel Agbonlahor on 88 minutes.
Chelsea club officials quickly pointed out that Abramovich was not storming out of Villa Park in annoyance, but went to see his players in the dressing room.
Mourinho said: “There are a lot of good teams in the league now. There is a big improvement in the teams below the top four, so it can be more normal for big teams to lose matches and points this season.
“Other teams have spent money, changed their teams and improved — Villa is just one example, you can find lots of others.
“It’s more difficult now to fight against these teams — but the table after five matches does not mean much.
“It was a good game. Villa played well, Chelsea played well in my opinion.
“We made a mistake we shouldn’t make, because at defensive set-pieces we are usually so well organised.
“We were solid in the first half but the match changed after a goal in the first minute of the second half.
“Villa were well organised, they had spirit, they defended well to keep a clean sheet.
“We had complete domination of the game but didn’t score a goal. A point each would have reflected what happened on the pitch but you pay for mistakes, we made our mistakes and I can’t say they didn’t deserve a win because they didn’t make a mistake.”
Mourinho was without England midfielder rank Lampard - a reliable source of goals and midfield drive for his team - through injury.
He explained: “We lost Lampard on Friday after training — not during group training but in individual work after that.
“So all the work we did in the week we had to forget it and try to organise the team on Saturday. I don’t lose many matches and it is more difficult to live with defeat when you are not used to it.”
Meanwhile Villa manager O’Neill pressed the intermational claims of Ashley Young and Gareth Barry, who have both been named in the England squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia.
O’Neill said: “Young was the worst player in five-a-side in training yesterday so he’d had his bad day!
“It’s really encouraging. We probably needed a result like that to give genuine belief that we can play against the big sides — we’ve got some fine talent, Ashley was sensational, he gets the crowd on their feet.
“And with Frank Lampard out and doubts about Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry really will not let anyone down — he’s getting great belief.”
O’Neill also praised Zat Knight, who scored on his Villa debut at the end of a week in which he was questioned by police after a raid of his family home.
The Villa manager said: “I’m very pleased for Zat. He’s had a few headlines — some welcome, some unwelcome. He played a different defensive system at Fulham and I’m hoping he’ll pick up even more.”
Knight himself commented: “It’s a dream come true. It’s been a funny old week and I’m almost lost for words. But it’s great to get a goal on your debut.”
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