Chelsea players do not believe in Jose Mourinho as they used to says Andy Townsend

Andy Townsend has blamed Chelsea players' lack of faith in Jose Mourinho for their poor start to the 2015/16 campaign. The Blues have won only two of their eight Premier League matches so far this season.

The English champions sit on 16<sup>th place in the league table with eight points, trailing fourth place Crystal Palace by seven and league leaders Manchester City by 10 points. The west London club suffered a 3-2 defeat to Southampton in their last league clash.

Before the fixture at home against the Saints, Chelsea came from behind to avoid a defeat against Newcastle United on 26 September. After the match, Mourinho sent a warning to his underperforming stars.

"Jose has a problem and the Chelsea players don't believe in him as much as they used to. That is showing in both the results and the performances. Clearly Jose is rattled. There doesn't seem to be a tremendous amount of harmony at the moment in the squad," Townsend told talkSPORT.

"One of the greatest strengths he's always had – I remember speaking to players who weren't playing under him and they always said he was top class, even those who weren't getting the game time, they always conceded he was the best. Now, I'm looking at this group and their relationship with the manager and I don't see that."

Despite the poor form, the former Blues midfielder has backed the Stamford Bridge outfit to finish in the top four this season. Townsend said, "I still think they can finish top four because I believe he [Mourinho] can still rein them in, but he has to start doing that pretty quickly."

Mourinho admitted that he has no explanation for Chelsea's crisis after just four wins in 11 matches played in all competitions. The Blues host Aston Villa at home after the international break and the former Real Madrid manager will be hoping his side can get into form ahead of the clash.