Jose's verdict on West Brom

Jose Mourinho was pleased with the commitment of the players to ensure we took all three points at The Hawthorns on Sunday.

After a tight game against West Brom, we finally found a breakthrough with two minutes of normal time remaining when Harry Kane headed Matt Doherty’s cross over advancing goalkeeper Sam Johnstone to extend our unbeaten Premier League run to seven games and send us – at least momentarily – to the top of the table.

We still had to defend resolutely as the winless Baggies – who had earlier gone close on a couple of occasions, Hugo Lloris notably forced into a fine save to deny Karlan Grant mid-way through the second period – pressed in added time, but we held firm to maintain our 100 per cent away domestic record this season.

Jose was happy with the team’s performance at both ends, pointing out how substitute striker Carlos Vinicius’ presence on his Premier League debut played a part in the decisive period of the game.

“It was one of those matches with all the ingredients to lose a couple of points – difficult opponents, they want to stop you, they analyse you, they see where you are strong, they try to close every possible door, and they did it,” he said. “Apart from that, they also had strategy in relation to the time, in relation to the intensity – they tried everything, fought really hard, and the good thing was that we always tried.

“Even being difficult, it was not a game where it had lots of chances, but a game where you start pushing, pushing, pushing and you feel the possible is coming. Then the moment arrived where I felt it’s time to bring Vinicius, to change the structure a little, to give them a different problem than they had until then. With Vinicius, Harry became a little more free and he got that space to score the winning goal.

“We defended well. Hugo had one moment to say ‘I’m here’ and in that moment, he said I’m here – he made a crucial save. The team defended very, very well. They have three huge centre-backs who go up for the set-pieces, and we controlled them the majority of the time. The team has great solidarity. In the last five minutes and extra time, Harry Kane dropped back, Lucas almost as a right-back, Sonny almost as a left-back, accumulating people in front of the box… I’m really pleased with their attitude.”