Jose steels Chelsea for big challenges ahead

Manager not resting on laurels after clinching Premier League crown

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes his newly crowned Premier League champion will face a challenge just to secure a top-four finish next season due to the English top flight's competitiveness.

Chelsea claimed its first league title since 2010 on Sunday when Eden Hazard's goal on the cusp of halftime secured a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace that gave it an unassailable lead at the top of the table.

Chelsea's Didier Drogba (right) battles for a header with Crystal Palace's Joe Ledley (center) and Damien Delaney during their English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge in London on Sunday. Alastair Grant / Associated Press

Mourinho's side has dominated the division from starting gun to finish line, but with Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool all likely to strengthen during the close season, he knows the battle for Champions League qualification will be fierce in 2015-16.

"We have to try to be a strong team, because if you are not a strong team we have no chance to finish top four, which is the first target for the top teams in this country," he said at Stamford Bridge.

"When you fight for the top four, you have chances to be champions, so we need to be strong again next year, to try to be a good team."

Mourinho has now won three Premier League titles, following back-to-back successes with Chelsea in 2005 and 2006 during his first stint at the club, but he shied away from comparisons with those teams.

"This one is completely different," he said. "The Premier League is different, Chelsea is different, the opponents are different.

"And my team, so many of them win the Premier League for the first time, which is something that they have to learn how to do."

Told that he has now won as many English league titles as greats Stan Cullis, Bill Shankly and Arsene Wenger, the current Arsenal manager, Mourinho responded simply: "I will try (to win) another one."

Chelsea's players cavorted on the pitch at the final whistle and can now look forward to a postseason parade, when they will also be able to show off the League Cup trophy.

But with fixtures against Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland still to be fulfilled, Mourinho warned his squad it still has duties to the rest of the division.

'The dogs bark'

"Against West Brom is a game where both teams are champions. We are champions of our league, West Brom are champions of their league," he said.

"But when we play against Liverpool, it's an important match for them, for Man United, for Tottenham, for Southampton.

"When we play Sunderland, maybe it's an important game for them and for other teams. As champions we have even more responsibility to follow Crystal Palace's attitude, which was fantastic."

Mourinho cut a rather subdued figure after the game and revealed he had flown to Portugal earlier in the week to be with his 76-year-old father, also called Jose, who had to undergo surgery on his head after falling seriously ill.

Mourinho has faced accusations his team, flamboyant during the first part of the season, has become 'boring' in recent months but he said it had demonstrated its worth over the course of the campaign.

"I think we showed absolutely everything since day one," he said. "Everything soccer demands from a team, we had.

"We had fantastic attacking soccer, we had fantastic domination, we had high percentages of ball possession, we had low percentages of ball possession, we gave the ball to the opponent strategically, we defended amazingly well.

"We do everything that a team needs. That's why we deserve so much to be champions and I think everybody knows that.

"And (to) the ones who say we don't deserve it, in my country we say: 'The dogs bark and the caravan goes by'."

Palace manager Alan Pardew said criticism of Mourinho's methods was misplaced.

"That's why he earns the money he does - he wins," Pardew said.

"It will have to be a very good side that tops this team next year and I'm sure Jose will add to his depth as well."

(China Daily 05/05/2015 page20)