Jose Mourinho: Chelsea should have had penalty against Spurs

Jose Mourinho believes his Chelsea side would have beaten Tottenham, if they had been awarded a penalty at 1-0 up.

After Diego Costa had given the Blues the lead, the visitors had a penalty appeal turned down by Phil Dowd when Jan Vertonghen handled in the area, before going on to lose 5-3.

"We had the biggest opportunity to score the second goal which is a shot from the penalty spot," said Mourinho.

"At 2-0 I don't think they have a chance to change the game."

BBC pundit Robbie Savage disagreed on Match of the Day that it should have been a penalty.

"Not for me," he said. "Just because it hits your arm doesn't mean it is a penalty. Vertonghen fell onto it, it wasn't a penalty."

Chelsea, who had an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League in November, are now only above Manchester City on alphabetical order following their New Year's Day defeat at White Hart Lane.

If that situation remains at the end of the season, they would play off for the title.

Chelsea felt they should have been awarded a penalty when Jan Vertonghen slipped and handled the ball

Following Costa's opening goal, Spurs scored three times in 15 minutes through Harry Kane, Danny Rose and an Andros Townsend penalty to storm into a 3-1 half-time lead.

They added further goals from Kane and Nacer Chadli after the break with Chelsea responding through Eden Hazard and John Terry.

"We had some individual problems against a fast and powerful Chadli and the movement of Kane," reflected Mourinho, who said there was a campaign against his side following their previous match against Southampton.

"I think we made some individual defensive mistakes. I prefer just to focus on the result because if I focus on the crucial moments of the game you know what I have to say."

Asked if the 'campaign' was at work, he added: "That is a question I don't want to answer."

Before the Tottenham defeat, Chelsea had not conceded more than three goals in a Premier League game under Mourinho, who admitted he was frustrated by the manner of his side's second loss in eight league matches.

"Of course I hate to lose but I prefer to lose like I did against Newcastle with a clean performance from referee Martin Atkinson and an unlucky performance by us," added Mourinho. "But in a game when you lose because of football it is a different feeling."