Mourinho fired up for title showdown

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has the top of the Barclays Premiership in his sights following victory over West Ham courtesy of Geremi’s spectacular winner.

Even a heavy victory would have been unlikely to see the champions leapfrog leaders Manchester United but the win at Stamford Bridge sees them handily placed, still three points adrift, ahead of next Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford.

“I think it is a good situation,” Mourinho said. “We can leave Old Trafford top of the league so it is a good situation.”

While enjoying the majority of possession and chances against a spirited Hammers performance, it was left to full-back Geremi to score the only goal of the game.

“I think we deserve the points but at the same time West Ham gave us a game,” Mourinho said. “Normally, with the production of our football, we should score the second goal and kill the emotion of the game, but we didn’t.

“It would be unfair if they scored in the last period of the game because we were the better team, but it was a good game because both teams played with a good attitude.

“They played an open game, they gave us problems – West Ham at least deserve to leave the stadium with self-belief about their future.”

Hammers boss Alan Pardew handed Carlos Tevez a rare start and was impressed with the Argentina forward’s workrate despite limited success against in-form Ashley Cole.

Lee Bowyer wasted West Ham’s most promising move of the opening exchanges on the other flank when he failed to find a team-mate when he reached the byline.

Chelsea took advantage and were ahead in the 22nd minute when Geremi curled in a delicious free-kick from 25 yards after Danny Gabbidon had been booked for fouling Didier Drogba.

“Gabbi just used his body, I felt the referee had three or four back-to-back decision when they were a bit iffy and they all went to Chelsea, and that was crucial,” Pardew said.

“It looked like they may have leaned on our wall to create the opportunity, if that’s the case there is a small argument for an infringement.

“But it was a great finish and he couldn’t have put it in a better place.”

Geremi was perhaps the most unlikely candidate to take the set-piece as Chelsea had a number of dead-ball specialists in their ranks.

The versatile Cameroon player, however, curled his effort around the wall and into Robert Green’s top corner.

“The plan was three players on the ball, the decision on who takes it is up to them depending on the position, distance and the feeling,” Mourinho said.

Chelsea increased in confidence after the opener but could not find the finish their possession warranted before the break.

They were forced into a reshuffle at the interval when Ricardo Carvalho was taken off with an ankle injury, with Khalid Boulahrouz brought on.

“It’s his ankle. It could be a couple of days or a couple of weeks,” Mourinho said.

“At half-time the ankle was getting fat and I prefer to play a centre-back from half-time as it is easier for him to adapt to the game.”

The Hammers remained in contention for a point until the final whistle, although Chelsea struck the post through Michael Essien and had a Drogba effort ruled out for offside.

“If it was a boxing encounter you would say it was pretty close,” said Pardew, who rested Yossi Benayoun. “It was our maximum performance but we couldn’t get the result.

“Against the champions we’ve given a performance to suggest the season is not going to be as long as people are thinking.

“Tevez showed the qualities he can bring to the club, it’s taken him a while and he’s had knocks but he was up to full speed. He was terrific.”

The Hammers have been linked with a possible takeover – Eggert Magnusson and Kia Joorabchian are fronting rival consortia – and Pardew is looking for a swift resolution.

Pardew said: “There have been suggestions and promises made by both groups and they both sound good to me.”