Mourinho: The best team lost

Jose Mourinho has pointed the finger at the Newcastle ball boys after seeing Chelsea lose their unbeaten record this season and added: "The best team lost".

After a bright start at St James' Park, Chelsea struggled to assert their authority and Newcastle established a two-goal lead through Papiss Cisse's 57th and 78th minute-strikes.

Chelsea threatened a comeback when Steven Taylor received a second yellow card on 81 minutes and Didier Drogba then headed home from Cesc Fabregas' free kick, but the hosts - who had to field debutant goalkeeper Jak Alnwick for the second half - held on for a memorable win.

"We were unlucky," said Mourinho. "The best team lost. The team that tried to win lost. That's football.

"It's the kind of defeat that's easy to accept - we were unlucky. We conceded goals the only time they crossed the line."

Mourinho, who has never won at Newcastle in the Premier League, said the ball boys had made it difficult for his side.

"We wanted to play more football but it was not possible because a few things I thought didn't belong any more to top-level football but still belongs - the ball disappeared, the ball doesn't come, another ball comes, the ball boys run away - these kind of situations that unfortunately are still part of the game. But no complaints," he said.

He stressed that he did not blame his players for the result.

"My players tried everything. I have no complaints," he said. "Congratulations to Newcastle. That's it. I would be disappointed if the first defeat arrived with a referee mistake or my team being complacent, but we were unlucky.

"The goals were strange rebounds and bounces. We were just unlucky. That's crystal clear. One day we will be lucky."

It was Newcastle's third successive league win at home against Chelsea, and Alan Pardew hailed his side's display.

"That was about character [and] discipline against the best team in probably Europe at the moment," Pardew told BT Sport. "At the start of the game I felt we stood off them a little bit and [Eden] Hazard was getting a lot of joy but we stuck at it and we were always a threat on the break."