Tottenham vs Chelsea: Jose Mourinho rues ‘painful’ penalty; Spurs boss unimpressed by referee Andre Marriner

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Tom Doyle4 February 2021

Jose Mourinho was left to rue a costly penalty as Tottenham fell to a 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night.

Jorginho's first-half spot-kick was enough to settle the London derby and inflict a third successive Premier League defeat on Spurs for the first time since April 2012, when Harry Redknapp was manager.

It seems a long time ago that Mourinho's side travelled to Anfield on top of the league in mid-December, but five defeats from the following nine games has left their league campaign in disarray and Champions League qualification is looking like a pipedream even in this most unpredictable of seasons.

They were without Harry Kane and his absence was felt as they lacked a clear goal threat and the Portuguese now has a job on his hands to reignite the club's season.

Thursday's derby turned when referee Andre Marriner adjudged Eric Dier to have fouled Timo Werner in Spurs' penalty area following a tangle between the pair, with Jorginho coolly dispatching the spot-kick.

Following the game, Mourinho told reporters: "It was a bit of a struggle but how many chances (did Chelsea have)? The penalty?

"We didn't have the ball, correct. We didn't create in the first half, correct.

"But the struggle is the penalty, in the end it is a penalty that decides the game, a couple of chances they had, a couple of chances we had.

"They score a penalty that is not a penalty if you say is a dangerous situation, one on one, almost scoring? It is a penalty that is difficult to accept, so to lose the game to a penalty like this is a bit painful.

"In the second half we were different, the spirit was different, the confidence too.

"At the end the feeling that I have is that the team stuck together until the end, fought until the end...and to finish the game with this positive spirit helps."

Mourinho also revealed that he told referee Marriner at full-time that he was underwhelmed by the official's performance, adding: "I told him something that he knows already, that I consider him to be one of the best referees in the Premier League and I care for him.

"He's a referee that I have big admiration for. That gives me probably good position to tell him that I didn't like his performance.

"So it was basically like that. I have a very good relationship with Andre and that gives me a good position to say that I didn't like the performance."

Additional reporting by PA.

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