ENGLISH PREMIERSHIP/Chelsea 2 Portsmouth 1:SOME THINGS never change. Avram Grant left Chelsea last night with thanks from this club's hierarchy tinged with a sense of sympathy, but with nothing tangible to show for all his efforts. The league leaders re-established their advantage at the top here somewhat fortunately at his Portsmouth side's expense. At least the last time the Israeli was dismissed from these parts there had been a pay-off to sweeten his exit.
It is almost 19 months since Grant took the Londoners to within a penalty kick of their first European Cup in Moscow and, where that was one missed by John Terry, here one converted by Frank Lampard undid his new team’s efforts at the last.
Pompey had regained unlikely parity and were hinting at a point few could have expected when, 11 minutes to play, Marc Wilson slid in crudely to check Branislav Ivanovic’s run. The spot kick was converted emphatically by Lampard, with the hosts’ celebrations gushing with relief. That was a reflection of the industry put in by Portsmouth but also Carlo Ancelotti’s side’s recent traumas. This win ended a four-match winless streak.
The world looks better with a three-point advantage re-established at the summit. For the visitors, the reality is grimmer.
Pompey may have resisted emulating Wolves by completely overhauling their team from the weekend, but niggling injuries and a virus sweeping through their Eastleigh training complex had prompted seven changes. Even with Papa Bouba Diop, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Steve Finnan returning, this squad is in no position to cope with such upheaval.
They held their own in the sleet for a while before Chelsea finally answered their manager’s pleas for width and duly prised the visitors apart. The source was unlikely, the lumbering centre-half Alex barging beyond Wilson to the line, with the pull-back dispatched clinically by Nicolas Anelka from just inside the area.
Grant could be thankful Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were less accurate with their own chances, and that Finnan managed to put off Salomon Kalou when the Ivorian leapt anticipating a nod into an empty net after Michael Ballack had flicked on Deco’s corner. That chance ballooned embarrassingly over the bar. Didier Drogba’s absence with a back injury appeared to have blunted the hosts’ intent.
Portsmouth’s chances were few, but credible. Hermann Hreidarsson might have converted the rebound when Petr Cech could only push out Frederic Piquionne’s skimmed attempt. The defender would have been rather wrong-footed as the ball flew at him. There was no such excuse for Tal Ben Haim who flicked Jamie O’Hara’s free-kick wastefully over.
Yet, while the deficit was only one, Chelsea’s recent propensity for sloppiness at the back always offered the visitors hope. Sure enough, five minutes into the second period, the hosts conceded a free-kick just outside the area which was battered goalwards by O’Hara and deflected first off Kalou in the wall and then from Ashley Cole. With home players aghast, the ball ricocheted into the path of Piquionne who slammed the equaliser beyond Cech.
Some 12 of the 14 shipped by Chelsea this season have come from set-pieces. Terry had denounced the defending of free-kicks against Everton on Saturday as “unacceptable” in his programme notes with all the nerves generated by uncharacteristic recent errors flooding back here.
The home side’s attacks were suddenly laced with desperation. Asmir Begovic, a goalkeeper of some quality, did well to prevent Ben Haim converting into his own net as the locals pleaded with Joe Cole, Lampard or Anelka to prove their quality. In the end, it was Wilson’s panic that provided relief, and offered Grant another reason to curse a Chelsea penalty.
CHELSEA: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel (Malouda 64), Ballack, Lampard, Deco (Joe Cole 58), Anelka, Kalou (Borini 72). Subs not used: Hilario, Carvalho, Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira.
PORTSMOUTH: Begovic, Finnan, Ben-Haim, Wilson, Hreidarsson, Mokoena (Utaka 85), Mullins, O’Hara, Diop (Hughes 60), Boateng, Piquionne (Dindane 71). Subs not used: Ashdown, Vanden Borre, Yebda, Belhadj.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne Wear).
