Efficient Chelsea edge closer to second title

Bolton 0 Chelsea 2

Pragmatic, effective and efficient, Mourinho’s team ruthlessly capitalised on Manchester United’s astonishing implosion against Sunderland and, nine points clear with four games remaining, can now secure the championship today if Alex Ferguson’s side slip-up at Spurs and Chelsea beat Everton.

Yet this was no glorious victory parade. As so often since the turn of the year, Chelsea triumphed without ever hitting the heights, a telling illustration of their overwhelming superiority over the rest of the Premiership, and with a display that was pock-marked by the now familiar posturing and diving that Mourinho and his players have turned into an art form.