Football – Delph decks Blues as Jose sees red

Delph struck eight minutes from time to give Villa a morale-boosting 1-0 win.

The result means Chelsea surrendered the initiative to Manchester City in the title race.

Manuel Pellegrini's men, who beat Hull in the lunchtime kick-off, are six points behind Chelsea, but the fact that they have three matches in hand makes them favourites - as Mourinho has been suggesting all along.

The match was a largely dull affair until Willian was shown a second yellow card for a push on Delph.

Mourinho reacted angrily towards fourth official Jon Moss, but his mood darkened moments later when Delph clipped a clever backheel beyond Petr Cech.

But as is always the case with Mourinho, more drama was to come.

In injury time the Portuguese raced on to the pitch to confront referee Chris Foy following his decision to show Ramires a straight red for a tackle on Marc Albrighton.

Foy did not like what he saw and he sent Mourinho off. Further censure from the Football Association may follow, and all in all this was a trip to the Midlands that the ex-Read Madrid man will want to forget quickly.

Tempers threatened to boil over - just like they did in the reverse fixture - early on when Nathan Baker clattered into Fernando Torres and received a booking in the fourth minute.

Willian received a yellow soon after for an equally poor challenge on Karim El Ahmadi.

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Football - Delph decks Blues as Jose sees red