Jose Mourinho Defends Chelsea & Antonio Conte After 'Unfair' Reaction to Loss at Man City

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has come to the defence of Chelsea and Antonio Conte after their "unfair" treatment in the wake of Sunday's 1-0 defeat against Manchester City.

The Blues were criticised for a perceived lack of interest as they succumbed to the dominant hosts at the Etihad, leaving them five points off fourth-placed Tottenham in the Premier League.

But Mourinho, who has repeatedly engaged in a war of words with Conte since his arrival at Chelsea, offered his support to the Italian coach.

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"Honestly, I know what you are writing as a consequence of yesterday," said Mourinho, speaking after his side came from behind to win 3-2 at Crystal Palace on Monday night with a stunning late winner from Nemanja Matic.

"But Chelsea is a fantastic team and, I know it looks a bit strange because you know we had problems in the past, but it's quite ridiculous that I have to say how unfair it is to speak the way people are speaking about the English champion.

"They are still the English champion. Chelsea was strong against us. They started very strong and created difficulty in that initial part of the game."

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On United's victory at Palace, Mourinho added: "And tonight [Monday] I think Roy [Hodgson, Palace manager] was strong. We were expecting [Jairo] Riedewald in defensive midfield and [Alexander] Sorloth out left, but he came with a 4-4-2, two aggressive strikers together, strong in the air then dropping back to defend.

"Roy was very good. I don't even want to blame my players and say the start was not good. The start was not good because they [Palace] were good and matches like this [going behind early], it's only possible if the two teams are good."