It's Open Season, Predicts Mourinho

Jose Mourinho last night admitted he expects the Premier League to be "open" this season after Chelsea lost 2-0 at Villa Park, their first league defeat since January. The Portuguese believes Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal will encounter more resistance from other clubs as a result of significant investment.

"There is a lot of good teams in the league," said Mourinho. "There's a big improvement in the teams after the top so I think it can be more normal for the big teams to lose matches and points because the other teams have spent money, bought players and improved.

"Aston Villa is one example but you can find a lot of other examples so I think it is more difficult. It will be more difficult to play against these teams because they are better. The league is open but it is the first weekend of September and we are only five matches into the season."

Goals from the debutant Zat Knight and Agbonlahor earned Villa a 2-0 win which denied Chelsea the chance to return to the Premier League's summit. Chelsea dominated for long periods but lacked a cutting edge and paid the penalty when poor defending at a set piece allowed Knight to score a 47th-minute header from Gareth Barry's corner.

"Aston Villa played well, Chelsea played well and in my opinion a point each would have been a fair result," added Mourinho. "But Chelsea made a mistake you cannot make. We are very organized in defence at set pieces. But a game that we were in control of after a solid first half changed with that goal early in the second half. After that, Villa were well organized, showed great spirit and had the crowd behind them.

"The second goal means nothing to me in the context of the game. That can happen sometimes in the last couple of minutes when you are pushing forward. I accept the result but don't think it's fair - but Villa did not make the sort of mistake that we made."

Villa's manager Martin O'Neill believes the result will give his players the belief that they can compete with the Premier League big guns. "Chelsea were brilliant in defeat but I'm absolutely delighted with our efforts," O'Neill said. "We had to play with a lot of determination and belief and I think we did that. We have a bit to go yet but that result and performance is really encouraging. We needed a result like that to give the players belief that they can play and perform against the big sides."