"Chelsea strikers are killing me; ...every game I am tired" - Mourinho

There were tidings of joy for Jose Mourinho but little comfort as Chelsea continued to accrue points without flair and without much help from their strikers.

Eden Hazard scored the only goal against Swansea at Stamford Bridge as Samuel Eto’o replaced Fernando Torres at centre forward with similar results.

‘They kill me,’ said Mourinho. ‘Every game I am tired. At half-time we should be relaxed with a comfortable result and we weren’t.’

Eto’o missed three glorious chances in an eight-minute spell either side of half-time. The first when he was played clean through by Juan Mata.

Gerhard Tremmel sprang to his left and pushed it away and then denied the Cameroon striker 12 seconds into the second half. Mata again was the creator, with a ball from the right for Eto’o to meet six yards out on the volley, with the inside of his left foot.

It was on target but too close to Tremmel, who saved. Mourinho hailed the Swansea goalkeeper but Eto’o completed his trio of chances by firing wide from just outside the penalty area, in the 50th minute.

‘The biggest (factor) responsible for the lack of goals was their goalkeeper,’ Mourinho said. ‘We didn’t miss, he made fantastic saves.’ The Chelsea manager also grumbled that referee Mike Jones should have awarded a penalty when Hazard was challenged by Jordi Amat, early in the second half.

Hazard was in full flow when Amat dived in from the side, taking the ball with his right boot while wiping out the Belgian’s legs from behind with a swing of his left foot.

‘Clear penalty,’ said Mourinho. ‘Big scissors in the box. It’s the kind of thing some managers will cry about for hours. I just say it was a penalty.’

Hazard made the difference. It was not only the goal. He was a ball of energy on the Chelsea left until he was replaced by Willian in the 82nd minute and really seems to have responded since he was dropped after missing a training session at the start of November.