Begovic: Our performances show we back Mourinho

Chelsea goalkeeper Asmir Begovic insists his side's performances show they are still firmly behind under-pressure manager Jose Mourinho.

The Premier League champions suffered their seventh defeat in 12 top-flight games this season on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Marko Arnautovic's acrobatic second-half goal proved decisive, handing Mourinho, who was not at the ground as he served a stadium ban, another reverse - the first time one of his teams have lost more than six times in a league campaign.

Begovic, though, feels Chelsea are not far away from getting positive results and says Mourinho's presence was felt during the game even though he was not in attendance.

"Jose Mourinho did the pre-match talk at the hotel and that was it," the former Stoke keeper told Sky Sports. "We didn't hear anything in the dressing room - I don't know how he could have done.

"[His future] is out of the players' control. We are behind the manager and you can see that from our performances - we are fighting for one another and everyone involved.  

"We think he is the right man and someone we respect and work hard for. It is just unfortunate we are not giving him the results our performances deserve.

"His spirit and his presence is always there, he was always around us and prepared us well for the game and we wanted to get a result for him, so that was a pity."

Begovic believes much of Chelsea's problems are self-inflicted and rectifiable after another frustrating loss.

He continued: "We definitely did enough to get a result here but when things aren't going your way you don't get the luck you deserve.

"We created enough chances. We hit the post, we slipped over when we had open goals and we are making things hard for ourselves at the moment.

"You can see from the game it is not a simple thing or something you can pinpoint. It is a collection of things - we are getting punished for little bits and pieces but eventually it has to turn, we will get a break of the ball and be off and running."