Chelsea stride seven points clear at top but Mourinho antics leave a sour taste in Lambert’s mouth

JOSE MOURINHO won for the first time at Villa Park after five unsuccessful visits, while the home side ended the fourth longest goal drought in Premier League history. But it seems some things never change.

The Mourinho camp was accused of being verbally abusive by Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert following a badtempered exchange between the two dugouts in the first half of this cut-and-thrust encounter. Lambert threw his overcoat to the ground after someone in the dugout made a remark to him midway through the half.

‘It was something said, but not by Jose,’ said Lambert. ‘He is a great manager, it is fantastic what the guy has done, I would love to learn from him as a football manager but I wouldn’t like to learn things off the pitch from somebody in his dugout. I don’t know what was said, I don’t speak Portuguese – maybe he doesn’t speak Glaswegian.’

Lambert also accused Mourinho of trying to ‘put pressure’ on him by calling the Villa squad, who are without a win at home in the League since early December, one of the best in the top tier: ‘I analyse teams by the quality of players and Villa have one of the best squads, very good players and a very good bench, lots of solutions.’

He had even praised the home fans. ‘That’s his impression – maybe he is trying to put pressure on me, I don’t know,’ swiped Lambert, who also noted Mourinho was ‘halfway down the pitch’ when he went to shake his hand at the end of the game.

Some animosity perhaps remains between the pair after Lambert refused to shake Mourinho’s hand when he attempted to leave the pitch before the final whistle when the sides met at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, a game won 3-0 by Chelsea.

After a frosty encounter with journalists in the week, Mourinho was notably subdued throughout the match, rarely straying from the dugout, except to celebrate Eden Hazard’s opening goal and Branislav Ivanovic’s (right) superb winner. But at the final whistle, the Portuguese marched towards the travelling supporters in the Doug Ellis Stand and asked them for more applause.

On the day main rivals Manchester City drew with Hull, did he sense this was when Chelsea, who extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points, seized control of the title race? Apparently not.

‘In another country I would say fantastic,’ said Mourinho. ‘In this country I would say it is difficult, every game is difficult. We still have 14 games left and 42 points to play for. I think it’s nothing.

‘I am surprised with nothing. Somebody told me City’s result after the game but it doesn’t matter. When you are top of the League you don’t need other teams to lose points.’

Lambert was optimistic despite a fourth straight defeat and said a major psychological weight had been lifted by Jores Okore’s headed goal after 48 minutes, which ended a barren spell in the top flight of 659 minutes.

‘Getting a goal is a big moment for us,’ said Lambert. ‘If we get into a run of games where we play like that, hopefully we can pick up a lot of points. It’s not just about getting 17th, we want to get up as high as we can. I just told the players we were up against team who will be close to winning the Champions League, so it was a good performance for us.’