Only success can safeguard Claudio Ranieri's job this season but at least his
Chelsea side scraped past Charlton at Stamford Bridge to keep their title
challenge alive.
It was by no means a convincing win as a badly-depleted Chelsea line-up
struggled to prevail in this battle of third against fourth in the Barclaycard
Premiership table.
But while Adrian Mutu squandered a hat-trick of chances, Jimmy Floyd
Hasselbaink saved Chelsea's blushes with his 99th Premiership goal when he
converted a penalty after being brought down by Mark Fish on 27 minutes.
That was enough in a largely uneventful match, in which the most controversial
moment came when new signing Scott Parker was unveiled at half-time, albeit not
on the pitch but in the executive boxes.
That still enraged the Charlton fans, who were aggrieved by the manner of his
departure from The Valley.
With Parker in their side, they had beaten Chelsea 4-2 on Boxing Day. Without
him, they could still have easily secured a point at Stamford Bridge only to
lack the cutting edge.
And so Ranieri's side prevailed - just. New chief executive Peter Kenyon has
already warned that not lifting a major trophy this season would be considered a
"failure".
And it did not take Sven-Goran Eriksson's presence in the ground on a scouting
mission to remind Ranieri just how precarious his position could be this summer
if Chelsea are not successful.
The Italian nevertheless remains impressively focused on the task at hand,
even though he had to field a side weaker than any of his Carling Cup line-ups.
For even the Tinkerman had little room for manoeuvre in his team selection,
with an absentee list which would have given most managers sleepless nights.
Chelsea were without Carlo Cudicini, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron,
Damien Duff, Emmanuel Petit, Celestine Babayaro, Claude Makelele, Geremi, Joe
Cole and John Terry.
Even Parker was a spectator due to the terms of his £10million move from
Charlton, while Marcel Desailly was on the bench after injury.
That left Neil Sullivan, Alexis Nicolas and Robert Huth in the side, while
Glen Johnson was out of position on the right side of midfield.
Stand-in captain Frank Lampard nevertheless led by example, while left winger
Jesper Gronkjaer struck the bar after just four minutes with a dipping effort.
The Danish international was soon booked for an acrobatic dive over Fish's
partially extended leg, earning himself a one-match ban for his fifth caution of
the season.
Chelsea continued to threaten intermittently, with Lampard and Nicolas
shooting wide, while Huth unleashed a fearsome 25-yard free-kick which flew
narrowly past the far post.
Charlton remained undaunted, however, and Sullivan was forced into a smart
save at Jonatan Johansson's feet.
Referee Steve Bennett nevertheless awarded a penalty the next time that Fish
tangled with a Chelsea player inside the area. Hasselbaink cleverly backed into
the South African defender as Mutu's knock-on fell at his feet and, with Fish's
arms around him, he fell backwards to the floor.
Bennett pointed to the spot and Hasselbaink picked himself up to calmly roll
his spot-kick down the middle of the goal.
Chelsea continued to threaten, with Mutu flashing a shot just wide, while
Hasselbaink chested down Gronkjaer's cross before spooning his shot over the bar
and Johnson struck the side-netting.
Although Gronkjaer's end product was as unreliable as ever, he was still
causing Charlton problems down their right flank and that led to a substitution
just before half-time.
Graham Stuart, who had only passed a fitness test just before kick-off,
stormed off after being replaced by Luke Young, who immediately moved to
right-back as Radostin Kishishev shifted forwards.
For all of Chelsea's possession after the break, they were failing to make the
most of it, as their forwards ran down blind alleys and chances were at a
premium.
Hasselbaink scuffed a shot at Kiely but was then replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen
as Ranieri looked for more impact up front.
Charlton threatened sporadically, with Johansson lifting a close-range volley
over the bar at full stretch.
Substitute Shaun Bartlett also placed a half-chance over the bar, while Matt
Holland headed wide from a corner after Huth had cleared the ball just past his
own post.
However, they were caught on the break late on as Gudjohnsen made an impact
only for Mutu to fluff his lines repeatedly in front of goal.
Firstly, he shot wide after rounding Chris Perry and keeper Kiely. Then he
struck the bar and finally he was denied by Kiely's superb reflexes from
point-blank range.
Chelsea were nevertheless thankful to hang on for three points. After all,
Ranieri does not have too much room for manoeuvre.
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