Cracks showing at the Bridge

JOSE MOURINHO has done a manful job in papering over the alarming cracks at Chelsea.

But now, inexorably and inevitably, the splits are beginning to show. The champions began yesterday with a distinctly patched-up appearance and they paid a harsh penalty, stumbling four points behind Manchester United in the Premiership title race after this most costly of draws.

There is something incongruous in seeing the resources of the self-proclaimed richest club on the planet stretched to breaking point, but there are certain key performers that Mourinho simply cannot do without. A defence which was once considered bullet-proof now seems to have been constructed from papier-mache. It has leaked six goals in the last three matches and, while Mourinho was bailed out by his attackers at Everton and Wigan, this time there were no late heroics.