Jose Mourinho believes Chelsea will struggle to overhaul Manchester United in the race for the Premiership title unless they start to get as much luck as the league leaders.

Mourinho celebrated his fourth major trophy in two and a half years with Chelsea on Sunday as his side beat Arsenal 2-1 in a dramatic League Cup final.

But the Portuguese coach, who has also won the Community Shield with the Blues, has already turned his attention to the struggle for supremacy in the Premiership and is convinced United have had more than their fair share of good fortune.

United moved nine points clear of second-placed Chelsea as Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal clinched a fortunate win at Fulham on Saturday.

In contrast, Chelsea have been dogged by problems this season, with injuries robbing Mourinho of several players.

Mourinho said: "I didn't see their game at Fulham but the information I have is it was completely undeserved. But football is like this.

"Sometimes you don't deserve it and you win. It is a game they could lose but they won. This is a season when they have no injuries and every player is fine to play.

"They go to the Champions League and they have a disallowed goal for their opponents and then score a strange goal. Then they go to Fulham and it looks like they deserve to lose and they win.

"They play at Tottenham and at 0-0, Cristiano Ronaldo goes down and it is a penalty. It looks like everything is on their side.

"In previous seasons it happened to us. In my first year we had no injuries and we would go away and score in the first minute in four or five successive matches."

Mourinho refuses to accept United will take Chelsea's title and he said: "In the Premiership what we have to do is keep winning and see if the next step is to close the gap.

"If we let the gap get bigger it will be very difficult, but if we close it everything is open."

Mourinho denied his gesture of waving five fingers towards the crowd, to signal the trophies he has won, was a message to the club's owner Roman Abrmovich, who he has argued with over transfer policy.

"I was not waving," he said.

"I was just saying in two and a half years in Chelsea I have won five trophies.

"The fans are fantastic to me, they know the happy moments we are living together, the players are fantastic too and a club that gives me a contract until 2010 must also be happy otherwise they wouldn't have given me it."

Mourinho was at least reassured when his captain John Terry, who was taken to hospital after being knocked unconcious during the second half, returned to the stadium to celebrate with his team-mates.

Arsenal had taken the lead in Cardiff through Theo Walcott's early goal but Didier Drogba equalised soon afterwards and the Ivory Coast striker headed the winner with seven minutes left.

That sparked a remarkable finish as Arsenal duo Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor, as well as Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, were sent off following a mass brawl in stoppage time.

Mourinho and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger both came onto the pitch to restrain their players. But, despite defeat and that ugly finale, Wenger is convinved his young side showed they can play a big role in the club's future success.

Wenger said: "It's a learning process. Today our midfield was Theo Walcott, who is 17, Denilson, who is 19, Cesc Fabregas, who is 19, and Abou Diaby, who is 20. That is fantastic and they marshalled the middle of the park in an outstanding way against world-class players.

"Since the beginning of the season there has been a great team spirit in this squad. Everytime the young players have responded and that is why I have regrets because I felt if we kept our calm, we had enough energy and mental resources to comeback.

"Until now we were more lambs than wolves. It is part of a big team to have a high aggression level in a positive way. It is good to have aggression but we have to keep it in a positive way and not lose our nerve. We will learn from it.

"It is a trophy and of course we wanted to win the game but we are full of hope with what we have produced. We still have hopes in the Champions League and FA Cup.

"I had my vision of this competition and I stuck to it until the last minute. I do not regret it."

(China Daily via AFP?February 27, 2007)