More spills than thrills for flaky Chelsea

IT took just over two hours for Stamford Bridge to lose its collective scowl on Saturday.

As the well-heeled suited types trickled out of the swanky bars that cluster around this stadium, they could barely contain their mirth.

A day which started with sections of Chelsea supporters turning on their own team, leaking three goals for the second time in a week and losing their perfect home league record had ended with the club actually extending their lead at the top of the Premier League table thanks to Manchester United’s aberration against Aston Villa.

Chalk it down as an early Christmas present, perhaps, or proof positive of the eccentric nature of the division this season, but this is clearly going to be a campaign crammed with the kind of outlandish twists more often associated with trashy airport fiction.

That said, this was an afternoon characterised by spills rather than thrills for Chelsea, who would do well not to rely on United’s generosity as the winter draws on.

As often seems to be the way for this club in December, their defence has decided to begin the festive season early, handing out presents to opposition attacks with Saint Nicholas-like benevolence. Impregnable just a fortnight ago, when Arsenal were dismantled with brutal authority at Emirates stadium, Chelsea are now flakier than a Yuletide snow-scene.

Petr Cech, formerly the world’s best goalkeeper, is currently playing as if he suspects he is not even the number one at his own club, while John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, one of the top flight’s most stable defensive partnerships, are going through the kind of rocky patch that makes Tiger Woods’ troubles appear little more than a tiff.

Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti put the problems down to a one-off technical mishap rather than anything more deep-rooted, suggesting that the defence was lying too deep to allow Cech room to come and claim the stream of crosses Everton pumped into the home area.

That was true, but only to a point. Cech may have had cause to lambaste Terry for allowing Louis Saha to meet Leighton Baines’ 12th-minute free-kick, but the Czech was still notably leaden-footed in moving across his goal to deal with the header, which bounced off the post, struck Cech on the back and nestled in the corner.

There was little Cech could do to prevent Everton’s second goal, slammed in from close range by Ayegbeni Yakubu after Baines’ shot had struck the grounded Carvalho, but his attempt to collect John Heitinga’s 62nd-minute free-kick was hapless. Cech was left hopelessly out of position as Didier Drogba’s defensive header struck the back of Saha’s skull and looped into the unguarded net. Cue the boos which so infuriated the goalkeeper.

“We thought the problem with the set plays was resolved after Aston Villa (when Chelsea lost 2-1 in October),’’ Ancelotti said. “We have to return to work. Sometimes when you have confidence you lose some attention and opponents take advantage.

“In training we always spend a lot of time on defending the set play situations. We don’t need to spend more time, we just need more concentration. After Aston Villa we did very well and we will do very well again.’’

Maybe so, but the problem for Chelsea is that they are beginning to develop a soft-centred reputation, with opponents now able to rely on set-pieces to cause acute discomfort.

“If you look at the stats it’s a very big part in this league, set pieces – they are vital,’’ Baines admitted. “We knew that before the game. We looked at it and we wanted to put the ball into good areas against them.’’

The good news for Chelsea, apart from the fact that none of their title rivals can string more than two results together, is that their attack is functioning more smoothly than ever. No team in the league can match their 40 goals this season, but then again no other side boasts a striker as potent as Drogba.

The Ivorian took his tally to 18 here with a brace of sublime finishes: the first, an instinctive shot curled high into the net after Carvalho had dispossessed a dozy Saha and the second, volleyed crisply into the bottom corner from Branislav Ivanovic’s chipped cross.

Nicolas Anelka is also no slouch, and his finish for Chelsea’s second goal was exceptional, but it is Drogba who is serving as Ancelotti’s talisman this season. The Italian will not be so concerned by his team’s defensive frailties while Drogba is plundering almost a goal a game but the striker will be absent for up to six weeks from 29 December, when he travels to Angola for the African Cup of Nations.

On this evidence, that is a day to dread for Chelsea, even if Ancelotti was not acknowledging it. “It is important not to lose confidence in our possibilities – that is my message to the players,’’ he said.

“I am the first to be unhappy with the result but not the performance. It is normal to make mistakes sometimes but not every time.’’

REFEREE: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 7: The game rattled along at a cracking pace, and the grumbles from Chelsea fans were largely unjustified.

MATCH RATING: **** Crazy entertainment, although most of the goals were down to defensive blunders rather than crafty attacking.