Jose's verdict on Aston Villa

Jose Mourinho praised the attitude of the players for never giving up on the way to a late win at Aston Villa on Sunday.

Trailing early on our return to Premier League action after the winter break through Toby Alderweireld’s unfortunate own goal, we turned things around to lead at the break thanks to a cracking strike from the same player – his first goal for us since May, 2017 – and Heung-Min Son’s opportunistic finish after his penalty had been saved by the superb Pepe Reina. That was the forward’s 50th Premier League goal and meant he’s now scored in five successive games.

Bjorn Engels headed the hosts back level after the restart but we dominated for much of the second half – we just couldn’t find a way past Reina. That was until Engels’ mistake allowed Son to burst in behind and slot home in the 94th minute, sealing a deserved 3-2 victory – our third top-flight win on the trot – to take us up to fifth, one point off fourth-placed Chelsea, who host Manchester United on Monday night.

“Fantastic, important and we had to work a lot for that,” said Head Coach Jose, reflecting on the result. “We didn’t start very well, I think they started more aggressive, more intense than us, we made our little mistakes but then a fantastic reaction and again, in the second half, after 2-2, I think it was a period of amazing football that we played, so many chances that we created but the ball wasn’t going in.

“You know, we scored almost at the end. People can say, ‘okay, a bit of luck’, but I’d say amazing attitude, ambition and togetherness and the boys went until the last second, so I’m so pleased for them. Thanks so much to the fans that came, they provided fantastic support.”

Jose also spoke about the character of the players to make sure we came away with three vital points: “That’s resilience, that means a lot,” he added. “We’ve had so many difficult matches that in the last minute, in the last second, we can win, we can lose, but the boys were fantastic.

“Against Southampton, probably when they scored the second goal, the majority of the people in the stadium thought we were done but we were not done and today we were going and going and going until the end.”