Football
ESPN staff 9y

Cesc Fabregas: Chelsea will not match Arsenal 'Invincibles' season

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has dismissed suggestions the club can mimic Arsenal's "Invincibles" side and go through the season unbeaten.

Jose Mourinho's side have yet to lose in the Premier League after goals from Fabregas and Oscar helped maintain their impressive start with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

However, Fabregas played down comparisons between the current Chelsea side and the Arsenal team that was undefeated during the 2003-04 season.

Fabregas told BBC Sport: "Do we feel invincible? This is a joke. Arsenal went unbeaten in 2003-04, that will never happen again.

"We played a great second half especially for 10 [men] against 10. Oscar's fantastic goal helped us and after the break it was a completely different game. It was a solid performance.

"Palace were man-marking me in the first half so it was difficult for me to get into space but 80 percent of the game was ours. I play deeper now so it will not be a party every game for me. I will go five or six games without a goal or an assist at times and I am more proud about our discipline."

Fabregas scored Chelsea's second goal at Selhurst Park after neatly exchanging passes with Eden Hazard and Oscar, which left manager Jose Mourinho awestruck.

"The second goal was a scandal. It is unbelievably good," Mourinho said. "Against Burnley we scored a goal [Andre Schurrle] which I thought would be our goal of the season but this is just as good."

However, it wasn't all pretty from Mourinho's men as Cesar Azpilicueta saw red for a studs-up challenge on Mile Jedinak. While Mourinho accepted his side deserved to go down to 10 men, he never believed it would cost them victory.

"My team had a fantastic performance. From minute one we did what we wanted to do, have the ball, use the ball and control the game. After that comes the red cards. And 10 against 10 with the qualities we have was even easier for us," Mourinho said.

"Against Palace it is never finished until the last seconds. They scored and the situation becomes dangerous for us. I have no complaints for the red card. It was very far from me and my focus was not on if it was a red, it was on how to reorganise my team."

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