Champions show signs of recovery

HAVE Chelsea turned a corner, after the dark mid-winter months that have seen the champions slide from the summit of the Premier League to a place among the also-rans?

If winning ugly is a necessary requirement for all winning teams, as is so often said, Chelsea showed that they are capable of doing that with a gutsy display in a scrappy game that looked destined to be deadlocked until goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Nicolas Anelka ended Blackburn’s resistance.

Ivanovic scored a scruffy goal from a tight angle after 57 minutes, and then thumped in a header that Anelka touched over the line in the 76th minute to seal three points and move Chelsea back into the top four.

There was a neat symmetry to the result because the same two players scored when Chelsea won 2-1 at Blackburn in October before embarking on a terrible run of only two wins in 10 league games that resulted in their fall from grace.

It is not too late to retain their title as champions, but they have a long way to catch up with the Manchester clubs and at the top of the table.

But Ivanovic believes that after some soul-searching among staff and players, they can start to be more positive.

“We have our focus back,” said the versatile Serb.

“We are training hard, enjoying our sessions and we are going to get better. It’s important to get every point. We have to try to win every game and wait for other teams to lose points. We have to get back to doing things our way.”

They are not there yet. Remember the way Chelsea started the season, winning their first five league games and scoring 21 goals while conceding only one?

Injuries to key players such as Frank Lampard, John Terry and Didier Drogba took their toll, and while the three do not yet appear to be back to their best, the team is more together with them in it.

“We have had injuries,” continued Ivanovic. “You cannot stay all season at the high level or win every game by six goals. We lost games we didn’t need to lose but now we have to look to the future and try to improve this.

“We are talking about all the team. When we defend it’s all the players and the goalkeeper. When we attack, it’s 10 players. We are all allowed to attack. That’s why it’s important to stay focused and be ready.”

So what has made the difference? “We have changed our character. Everyone has been a little bit angry about the things that have happened and we want to show our real power. This is going to count in the games coming up. The players are starting to get angry. We were losing but that’s in the past and now we have to carry on.

“Of course, we are not in a good position to win the league but we will try to win it. We will go step by step, prepare well for every game and fight for every ball, every result. This is what we will do.”

Next Monday’s visit to Bolton will be the acid test for a team that won 4-0 at the Reebok Stadium last season, as Carlo Ancelotti concedes. “I think that our confidence is improving, we are coming back to play our football.

“Next we are away at Bolton and it will be a tough game. We will see if everything is okay. That’s when we can say we have turned the corner. It is the key game of our season but my feeling is that we are ready.’’

Steve Kean was not too despondent about defeat, having seen signs that his team are able to compete better with the big sides than earlier in the season.

Kean flew out to India yesterday to update the club’s new owners on their progress since he took over from Sam Allardyce last month.

By the time he returns he hopes to have completed the signing of American midfielder Jermaine Jones on loan from Schalke.

Kean believes Blackburn are well set up to finish in the top half of the table. “We’re together, we’ve some good fixtures coming up and we are confident we can continue to climb up the table,” he said.

“Chelsea caused us problems when they moved quickly, and their three-man attack always has a threat, but I felt for long spells we contained them.

“We knew that if we could disrupt their rhythm in midfield we could stop them, and we did that okay for most of the game.

“But I am happy with the way things are progressing.”