Chelsea - 4 Wigan Athletic - 0:The games are an interlude at Stamford Bridge now, with the scheming and competitiveness at their most intense only after the crowd has gone home. That may seem a melodramatic account, but the person most in the public eye there never lets anyone think Chelsea are a club at peace. When Jose Mourinho pledged his devotion it came across more as a lachrymose farewe
"I will love Chelsea forever," he said, as if this was the last scene of a soap opera in which he turns his back and walks off into the rain. Mourinho could just as easily be bound for sunshine, since Real Madrid are exploring the possibility of appointing him in case they feel obliged to ditch Fabio Capello in the summer.
In the meantime, the Chelsea manager is occupied with confirming his present disgruntlement. He has had resources at his disposal that are unknown to any rival in the Premiership, but he must also envy them the control they can exercise.
The authority of Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez over football affairs is unquestioned. Mourinho, on the other hand, has seen his influence diminished and it was not his choice that Frank Arnesen should become chief scout and director of youth development. Nor, in 2004, can the manager have envisaged that, in Piet de Visser, there would ever be another figure with a remit to sway transfer policy.
Mourinho is not some luckless victim and his fascinating decision to have a lean squad for this season has looked lately like a lunge from originality into downright recklessness. In addition, certain bad signings have been made purely on his instructions.
Nonetheless, there is no obvious advantage for Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich in distancing himself from a manager striving for a third consecutive Premiership title and keeping the club to the fore in every other competition. Neither Ferguson, Wenger or Benitez can boast that.
Abramovich may wish Chelsea would play with more style and verve but dispensing with Mourinho would not ensure that and it could send the club into decline. Who, after all, is to replace him? Guus Hiddink would be a popular choice, but Abramovich is committed to keeping himself on good terms with the Russian authorities. Before he disposed of Sibneft, the company provided CSKA Moscow with a gargantuan sponsorship deal. He also helped recruit Hiddink as Russia coach.
Would Abramovich really opt for being reviled in his homeland by taking the Dutchman to Stamford Bridge before the Euro 2008 qualifiers are completed in the autumn? Apart from Hiddink, there are not many candidates of Mourinho's calibre. Abramovich, in short, has allowed uncertainty to develop and if the billionaire does have a grand scheme it is invisible to the naked eye. The perception is of competing power centres within Chelsea.
Few even pause to think how peculiar it is, for instance, that there should be any debate about Peter Kenyon's stance over Mourinho. At a healthy club, and especially one with Chelsea's recent success, it would be taken for granted that the manager had the backing of the chief executive and every other party.
But Mourinho has the endorsement of his playing squad. Even Arjen Robben, despite a sometimes vexed relationship with the manager, has joined the captain John Terry in speaking up for him. On Saturday Wigan came to the aid of the Portuguese by haplessly conceding the first three goals.
At the first, Fitz Hall chose not to clear a Frank Lampard free-kick that continued on its way past an unresponsive Chris Kirkland. For the second, Kristofer Haestad, making his Premiership debut on loan from the Norwegian club IK Start, sent a pass-back into the path of Robben, who converted the chance without fuss.
The winger would later go past Kevin Kilbane to strike a low cut-back that a diving Kirkland somehow diverted into his own net.
Chelsea had to make their own arrangements for the other goal, Didier Drogba heading in a perfect cross from Mikel John Obi in stoppage-time. There seemed no reason why a pitiful Wigan, defeated for the seventh consecutive time in all competitions, should not be relegated.
"We've got to win six games - or even not that many - out of the last 16 to stay up," said Jewell.
Guardian Service
