Villas-Boas: You lot Blue it

[Reprint from The Sun]

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS conceded the title to Manchester as Chelsea blew up again.

The Blues boss admitted the gulf in class at the top of the table was huge as his side fell 11 points behind the joint leaders following a 1-1 home draw with Fulham.

The Portuguese said: "There's no big drama in terms of how we look at things. But you have to be sufficiently real.

"The difference between us and the top will be big.

"With City and United continuing to get the points they are getting at the moment, it'll be difficult.

"We have to focus on our position at the moment and make a real assessment. Maybe the Premier League is over for us at the moment."

Juan Mata's pinpoint finish put Chelsea in front in the west London derby.

But Clint Dempsey soon replied for the Cottagers as Chelsea's wins over Newcastle and Manchester City at the start of the month became a distant memory.

Villas-Boas brushed off claims he was treading dangerously, with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich no stranger to wielding the axe.

He said: "There is always tension for you to get results in a massive club like this one.

"You have to be real. You cannot live under false expectations when the gap is this big."

Villas-Boas claimed Fulham's inspired keeper David Stockdale made the difference, while he also refused to blame Fernando Torres for another day to forget in front of goal.

He added: "Today we weren't good enough to get the three points, that was pretty clear.

"We created enough chances to try to win the game. We had a good second half, had a lot of good opportunities, but always collided against a brave Fulham defence or against Stockdale, who had a fantastic game.

"Torres worked well for the team, assisted Mata for his goal, and showed the level of commitment he has shown in training.

"We don't judge our strikers on the score. What is important is that they make an impact. That is what we expect from them."

Fulham boss Martin Jol admitted gambling on his team selection after strikers Bobby Zamora (Achilles) and Andy Johnson (groin) both pulled out injured.

He said: "Sometimes you have to take a gamble and that is what we did today.

"Our two main strikers dropped out so we had to come up with something else. I think it paid off."

Fulham were unrecognisable from Wednesday night's 5-0 home thrashing by Manchester United.

Jol added: "We had a good result against Liverpool, a good result at the Emirates.

"You can't say we are inconsistent — it was just against United that we didn't have a good result.

"We've shown we can give all these teams a good game."

(一个慢牛)