Jose's verdict on City

Jose Mourinho was left to reflect on a ‘perfect’ day as we toppled Manchester City 2-0 on Sunday.

Our resilience under pressure in the first half was rewarded when Steven Bergwijn scored a debut goal to remember on 63 minutes before Heung-Min Son once again found the target against City eight minutes later, just like he did in that memorable Champions League win at the new stadium last April.

To continue that sense of deja-vu, Hugo Lloris saved another penalty in the first half, this time from Ilkay Gundogan, a key intervention on 39 minutes, same end, same side of the goal that he denied Sergio Aguero in that Champions League tie.

“The boys were fantastic, amazing spirit,” said Jose. “It was a difficult match, of course and the three points so important. It’s good when you work so hard during the week, like we did, a complete week of work from Monday to Sunday and it’s the best feeling for the players to have that week and say ‘fantastic work, fantastic result’.”

Steven, Sonny and Hugo may well take the headlines, but Dele epitomised the team’s work ethic. Injured after just 12 minutes, he battled on for the best part of another hour before finally giving way.

“Dele wanted to stay,” said Jose. “I think he was brave. He wanted to give everything to the team. He tried, but there are limits and he reached his limit.

“Everyone on the pitch, even the ones not on the pitch, I think everybody played, great empathy with the fans, great feeling for Steven to come and to feel that this is not just a beautiful stadium, but also a great atmosphere, so... perfect.”

On Steven’s debut impact, Jose said: “It has to be a fantastic feeling, a kid who arrived here Monday with his family, signs his contract, starts training, plays a big match, wins, scores, it couldn’t be better. It will have such a positive impact, being happy is the best thing that can happen to a player.”

Finally, what would this result mean for the team – it moved us up to fifth in the Premier League on Sunday evening, four points adrift of Chelsea in fourth.

“First of all, three points,” he said. “At this moment, lose two matches you get close to relegation, win two matches and you are close to Champions League, so first of all, points.

“We have a match on Wednesday (FA Cup fourth round replay), we are tired, we gave everything and Southampton played yesterday, so I think I have to be calm, not enjoy too much and start thinking about the next one, because the next one comes very soon.”