Jose Mourinho refused to condemn his Chelsea flops after their Premier League title defence was plunged into turmoil as Steven Naismith's hat-trick gave Everton a 3-1 win on Saturday.

Mourinho's side made a miserable start at Goodison Park as Scotland forward Naismith came off the bench to score twice in the space of five minutes midway through the first half.

Nemanja Matic pulled one back for Chelsea before the interval, but Naismith completed his treble in the closing stages to ensure the Blues, with three defeats and only four points from their five matches, made their worst start to a season since 1988.

Chelsea's second successive loss means the champions will trail Manchester City by 11 points by the end of the day if the unbeaten leaders win at Crystal Palace later on Saturday.

But Mourinho claimed he had no complaints about his team's performance and blamed bad luck for Chelsea's woeful results.

"I am a champion, the players are the champions, the way they are playing is not as bad as the results but in every single game things are going against us," Mourinho told BT Sport.

"We have to cope with it, football is about results. It's easy to say and I agree completely, but results are too bad.

"I don't blame my players and I don't blame myself. I don't accept the results."

Mourinho knows he will find himself under mounting pressure if Chelsea's form doesn't improve quickly, but the Portuguese coach is confident he can bounce back from the "worst results" of his glittering career.

"I am responsible for the team, I am not happy with the situation and I am not happy with myself," he said.

"I am not feeling any pressure. The results are the worst results ever in my career. I am not happy but I am coping well with the situation."

Later, in the day's most eagerly anticipated match, Manchester United face bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford.

United are likely to include goalkeeper David de Gea for the first time this season after the Spaniard signed a new contract this week following the collapse of his proposed transfer to Real Madrid.

The hosts could also give a debut to young French striker Anthony Martial, who arrived from Monaco for an initial £36 million ($55 million, 49 million euros) on transfer deadline day.