Grant happy to be Chelsea’s lucky one

THEY say that luck is a lady but Chelsea are eternally grateful this morning that on Saturday she was wearing green, carrying a flag and looking distinctly masculine.

Salomon Kalou was undeniably several yards offside when he struck the winner in a 2-1 victory over Newcastle that has sent Avram Grant’s side skipping into the New Year with a real belief that they can challenge for the title.

For Newcastle and their under-pressure manager Sam Allardyce it was an almost unbearable mistake from the assistant referee, but for Chelsea it served to underline that Roman Abramovich may well have replaced the Special One with the Lucky One.

Grant, looking ominously like an undertaker with his black trench coat and vacant sideline stare, doesn’t fit the profile of a modern day Premiers League manager; and in stark contrast to his predecessor his post-match conferences are predictable and dull.

But a quick glance at the results he has achieved since replacing Jose Mourinho prove there is real substance behind the glassy-eyed façade.

Since Grant lost at Old Trafford in the most difficult of baptisms, Chelsea have won 16 games in all competitions, drawn five times and lost only once – in controversial fashion at London rivals Arsenal.

During that time they have qualified comfortably for the last 16 of the Champions League and reached the semi-final of the League Cup.

All this against a backdrop of almost unanimous cynicism from fans and media over Grant’s credentials to manage the club and achieved in the face of a mounting injury and suspension list.

Chelsea’s victory on Saturday, lucky or not, was completed with a team that was missing captain John Terry, Frank Lampard, top scorer Didier Drogba and first and second choice goalkeepers Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini — and also without Ricardo Carvalho, Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Claude Makelele.

So although the majority of the post-match headlines focused on the terrible decision that handed Chelsea victory, Grant also deserves praise for the way he has ground out results in the face of adversity.

That point should certainly be made to Chelsea’s spoilt supporters who booed Grant’s substitutions and chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ as he replaced out-of-form Joe Cole with Claudio Pizarro and tiring captain Michael Ballack with Scott Sinclair. Maybe they don’t appreciate how hard some managers have to work to be lucky.

“I think we deserved to win,” insisted Grant. “I want this sort of luck when we play badly but today we deserved to win it anyway.

“But it’s true when you score in the last moments you feel that there is something more to it.

“We’ve had so much bad news in recent weeks but the good news is that we’ve won a game like that.

“I could stand here and talk about the problems for a long time. But I think in this game we need to speak about the players who did play. I am very proud of them.

“If you look at the last 15 minutes, I cannot try to pretend that it was great football. But you could see the team wanted to win and created chances.”

With Manchester United losing at West Ham, this could well turn out to be a crucial three points for Chelsea who simply refuse to give up on the prospect of winning back the title.

“I think if we’re in the same position as we are now when the players come back from Africa and their injuries, then it will be very good for us,” said Grant.

“If we’re there I think we can win it. We need to show, like we showed today, a lot of spirit and character, and also, when you show good football like we did in the first half, to score the goals and not create problems for ourselves.”

Chelsea certainly created a string of chances early in Saturday’s game, going ahead through Michael Essien from close range in the 29th minute and being denied time and time again by Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given after that.

But Nicky Butt’s scruffy equaliser from Charles N’Zogbia cross confirmed Newcastle’s spirited second-half revival and only Kalou’s dinked finish when the ball deflected to him off Pizarro four minutes from time denied the visitors a point.

The fact that Kalou was several yards offside when he received the ball made the defeat tough for Newcastle to take, but Grant rightly pointed out his side should have won the match long before that.

“I think we missed too many easy chances in the game,” he said. “If you look at the last two or three years, what made Chelsea champions for two years and United champions last year was that they were teams that didn’t miss chances. If you want to be top of the table, you have to score a greater percentage of chances than we do. If we’re going to win the title we have to become more clinical.’’

Chelsea will have to solve their goalscoring problems without injured Drogba, who will head for the African Nations Cup in Ghana when he regains fitness; and they will also be without Malouda for three more weeks after he aggravated his knee injury in training last Friday.

But, given their fighting display and mental strength on Saturday, you suspect it still won’t be enough to derail Chelsea title’s ambitions.

Sooner or later even the club’s harshest critics will learn that Lady Luck doesn’t really carry an offside flag.

Although maybe she does have a penchant for a black coat and a sombre stare...

CHELSEA (4-5-1): Hilario 7; Belletti 6, Alex 6, Ben Haim 7, Bridge 6; Wright-Phillips 8 (Sidwell 90), Mikel 6, Essien 8, Ballack 8 (Sinclair 75, 5), J Cole 5 (Piazarro 65, 5); Kalou 7.

Subs not used: Taylor, , Ferreira.

NEWCASTLE (4-5-1): Given 8; Beye 6, Taylor 6, Cacapa 6, N’Zogbia 6; Duff 6 (Viduka 88), Smith 7 (Rozenhal 70, 5), Butt 8, Faye 7, Milner 6; Martins 6 (Owen 74, 6).

Subs not used: Harper, Emre

REFEREE: Mike Riley (Yorkshire 7): Kept an admirable hold on the game for much of the match but his performance will still be remembered for a decision by his linesman that left Newcastle furious.

MATCH RATING: **** A controversial finale, dozens of chances, some outstanding saves from Shay Given and Shaun Wright-Phillips in full flight made it an entertaining afternoon.