Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 2:Chelsea's refusal to relinquish their Premiership crown promises to take the title race into May but Manchester United's quest for a ninth championship in 14 years is in danger of being overshadowed by the feud developing between Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
Friday's advice from Ferguson that Mourinho should "button his lip" with regard to decisions from referees and United's luck drew an indignant response from Chelsea's manager here after United's lead had been cut from 12 to nine points.
"Why should I shut up?" Mourinho asked. "I'm not allowed to talk about referees but he was allowed to do it for the last 20 years of his career? What's the difference between me and him? What would he say if Chelsea wins a match with a penalty like they did at Middlesbrough and Tottenham, or the penalty they got in the first minute against Portsmouth (last November)?
"I want to separate things. One thing is 100 per cent respect for (Ferguson), for the players, for the club, for the team they have and for the wonderful league they are doing. That's one part of the story. But the other part of the story is that in the right moment, in the right time, they have had a penalty or a goal or a sending-off or whatever; something happened for them. And they are in a positive situation."
The two managers have always claimed to like one another but Ferguson's regard for Mourinho has disintegrated this season amid what the Scot perceives to be provocative behaviour. Mourinho's comments are unlikely to soothe relations.
"Chelsea are the champions," he pointed out. "We have to do everything we can to win the title or at least to fight until the last moment. And I think that one of the things that gives us hope is that (United) are winning with luck.
"In this moment they're not winning three- or four-nil, easily. They are in that moment where they win in the last minute, they win with a goal coming from we don't know where, so they are giving us some hope that one day they can drop points."
But for Petr Cech Chelsea would probably not have beaten Portsmouth. Having taken the lead through a Didier Drogba volley - his 29th goal of the season - they were twice grateful to the Czech goalkeeper for denying Portsmouth an equaliser.
The first of his saves, from Andy Cole's 78th-minute header amid a period of intense pressure from the home side, was little short of miraculous.
"Absolute world-class save, you won't see a better save," was the assessment of Portsmouth's manager, Harry Redknapp.
Cech's heroics proved the turning point. Two minutes after the second save, which denied Nwankwo Kanu's header low to his right, Salomon Kalou squeezed the ball under David James to end the contest.
Cech's performance did much to substantiate Mourinho's claim that the 24-year-old is the world's best goalkeeper. The Chelsea manager questioned whether his side would be trailing United had Cech not missed more than three months of the season with a fractured skull.
Last season United slipped up in pursuit of Chelsea, drawing at home to Sunderland and enabling the reigning champions to pull nine points clear, but Mourinho will not countenance a role reversal. "No chance of us doing that," he said. "The second team can do that and hand the other side the championship on a plate, like the breakfast on a tray. No, no, no, no, no. No chance. I don't want to do that. If we'd drawn at Portsmouth we'd have given it to them. But that's not the case."
Ashley Cole is less hopeful. "The Champions League is more realistic than the league now," he said.
Chelsea face Porto tomorrow but will again be without their captain, John Terry, who is recovering from concussion and is also likely to miss Sunday's FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham.
Guardian Service
