PREMIER LEAGUE: Mourinho admits Terry substitution was tactical and not because of injury

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho admitted skipper John Terry was not injured when he was taken off at half time at Manchester City.

It was the first time Mourinho had substituted Terry in a Premier League match, the former England captain having completed 175 of his previous 176 games for Mourinho – and he was sent off in the other one.

Chelsea were trailing 1-0 when Terry went off and they went on to lose 3-0 but the Blues boss said he had to do something to stem the tide, adding: “It was a decision. Zouma is the fastest defender we have in the squad. I know Man City are going to play counter attack and Zouma is a different player to John and was proven right because Zouma was in complete control.

“John is a player I have total trust in, with me he was never substituted, With other managers he was not selected and people thought his Chelsea career was over.

“If a manager has the right, I do, because I gave the chance to make him what he is, a fantastic player and a fantastic captain. I was proven right.

“One point from six is better than zero and worse than two. I am okay in mathematics,  multiply 36 by three and I know how much it gives, I know the championship is more than mathematically open.”

Mourinho also insisted his side did not deserve such a heavy defeat.

He said: “It is a fake result. We were the best team by far in the second half. What they did in the first we did in the second.

“We dominated and when they feel they are in trouble, and they felt, they changed Aguero and Sterling, they try to recover control of the game is exactly when they scored the second goal. For me, completely fake.

“Their goalkeeper was good and we couldn’t score. They were only coming up with long balls and even that we controlled that. Not one single problem in the second half, they had lots.”