JOSE MOURINHO conceded Liverpool fully deserved their first Premiership victory over Chelsea during his managerial reign but dismissed talk of a growing crisis at Stamford Bridge. The Reds' 2-0 win was secured in the opening 18 minutes as Dirk Kuyt and Jermaine Pennant gave the hosts a lead they never looked like relinquishing.

The opener came on four minutes as Jamie Carragher sent a high ball forward, Peter Crouch distracted the defence without making significant contact and Kuyt turned sharply to score. For the second, Jermaine Pennant chested the ball down before striking a wonderful dipping volley over Petr Cech from 30 yards out.

It put Rafael Benitez's thirdplaced side within five points of Chelsea and the situation could get worse for the Londoners if leaders Manchester United, currently six ahead, beat Arsenal tomorrow. But Mourinho, whose future at the club has been the subject of fevered speculation in recent weeks, played down suggestions of increasing problems at Chelsea.

"It is difficult to speak about what we should have done to solve the problem. But it is not normal to lose three central defenders at the same time, " said the Chelsea boss who, already without the injured John Terry and Khalid Boulahrouz, lost Ricardo Carvalho through illness before kick-off.

"That is not normal, an incredible situation. John Terry is a long injury, Boulahrouz has knee ligament damage and that will be six weeks. And then we had Ricardo Carvalho ill. I had a squad here and the only one who was ill was our only central defender. If Manchester United win tomorrow the gap is nine points. It is not over but it is a gap. If United draw or lose the gap will be six or seven points and I would be very confident we can still do it."

Mourinho has spoken out about the club's inactivity in the transfer window but this result will have done little to improve the mood of owner Roman Abramovich, who missed the defeat as he was away on business in Europe according to Chelsea. "I am the manager. I am not the owner or the chief executive.

I am not the chairman, just the manager and I give my opinions to the club, " said Mourinho.

"The club try, if they want, to give me what I think is good for the team. I am not criticising anybody. At the end of December I gave my opinion as always, and that was we needed two players. We needed a central defender and a second player because Joe Cole is out for the season, unless he comes back for the last month. I hope he can.

"Arjen Robben is injured a lot of the time and it is never for a small period, it is always for a long time. In my view we need two players. But I gave my opinion to the club and try to do the best I can. But even before the market opened we knew of incredible figures for players, even if we were desperate we cannot pay what people want in this crazy game."

Even in defeat, however, Mourinho could not resist a dig at his opposite number Benitez. "Liverpool are happy and deserve to be so because they deserved to win, " said the Portuguese. "But they would still prefer to change position with us, to be second and not third and to still be in all the cups. Our situation is much better than many teams, including Liverpool, we are in a better position than them."

Benitez had little sympathy for Chelsea's injury situation.

"I agree with Jose that we deserved to win. We played really well and created a lot of chances and we could have scored more, " he said. "I notice that everyone is talking about the players Chelsea had out but when we have had our problems and been losing key players and losing matches all everyone wants to talk about is our mistakes.

"But now we have won an important league game against one of the top four and that means we can stop talking about our shortcomings and why we can beat them in the cups but not the league.

We played very well and from start to finish we did the right things and deserved the victory.

"The gap is now five points and it is still a long race. When you beat a top side, a fellow challenger, you win three points and stop them getting three points. It was a fine allround team performance.

Crouch and Kuyt up front were excellent and we did not really allow them a serious chance. I am not interested in what anyone else says about us, just let me enjoy this result."