Alvaro Morata’s headed goal secured a hard-fought win for Chelsea who were coming off the back of a 3-0 spanking against AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League in midweek.
But Mourinho posited that the game could have gone either way.
“It was an even match. Both teams could win. The first to score would be in more defensive control and to win the match,”
he said in his post-match reaction.
“The first half was really even. In the second half in the only period where they were on top of the game, they scored.
“It frustrates us to concede a goal in this situation. We lost ourselves after the goal emotionally. We found again the balance and desire in the last 15 to 20 minutes. It was all us. We had big chances to equalise but we couldn’t.”
Mourinho stated further: “The game was controlled by us and the game was controlled by them. We had chances and they had chances and with the first goal they were able to bring more people to defend. We tried to change the direction of our game, we created chances to equalise but we couldn’t.
“We had chances. If I remember Lukaku shot in the first half and in the last part of the game with Rashford shot and Courtois without a chance with the cross to the far post to Fellaini. We had lots of chances to score goals.”
And on United’s current position which sees them behind Manchester City by eight points, Mourinho said they are not in a precarious situation.
He added: “We are second – not fifth, sixth or seventh or eight. We have several teams in a more difficult position than we have. Eight points is eight points. “We went through a very difficult phase with important matches against Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea without important players.”