Starting to look too little too late

Watford 0 Chelsea 1:It did not take long for Jose Mourinho to patch up his differences with Aidy Boothroyd, but the same cannot be said for the Chelsea manager's relationship with Roman Abramovich. Unlike other members of the Stamford Bridge board, the owner did not enter the visiting dressingroom afterwards. That might not be a new development, but the snub was all the more glaring given the unusual public meeting that took place in the empty main stand afterwards.

Abramovich, Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, the chairman, Bruce Buck, and club director Eugene Tenenbaum engaged in a 10-minute conversation after Mourinho's players had departed down the tunnel. It was an odd time and strange place to exchange views.

It was also difficult to believe that a match that had not yielded a breakthrough until injury-time was not stimulating the debate.

Maybe Watford fans had pre-empted the topic earlier in the evening.

"You're getting sacked in the summer," chanted the home supporters as Mourinho paced up and down the touchline, unable to contain his frustration as Chelsea toiled against a spirited Watford side. Mourinho lost control of his emotions at one point in the second half, arguing with Boothroyd only to embrace the Watford manager later and share a joke.

Abramovich appears in no mood to do likewise, even if he did manage to smile when Salomon Kalou struck.

Mourinho made light of Abramovich's reticence, although the notion that the Chelsea owner should fail to speak to the Portuguese when he was in such close proximity and also content to remain at the ground after the final whistle appeared telling.

"For me it's no problem," said Mourinho. "I didn't get the chance to talk to him as I finished the game and came here. He's happy like everybody is happy and is feeling the same as everybody is feeling."

That feeling was probably relief. Chelsea came perilously close to surrendering their Premiership crown, with substitute Kalou scoring his eighth goal since arriving from Feyenoord to prevent the title race becoming a walkover for Manchester United.

"If we lose two points here, we lose the Premiership," admitted Mourinho. Instead, he could afford to be bullish. "I think if we win the last seven matches we can be champions."

That still might not be enough given United's superior goal difference. Chelsea are not the same free-scoring machine, and this slender victory contrasts sharply with the goal-spree at Old Trafford.

The visitors could not find any fluency, particularly in midfield where Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack were subdued, Claude Makelele was withdrawn and Shaun Wright-Phillips might have been wearing yellow such was the regularity with which he found a Watford shirt.

Valencia, Chelsea's opponents in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday, will certainly not lose any sleep over this display, yet there was still something to admire in the way Mourinho's side pilfered a goal so late.

Keeping players fit has proved more difficult for the Chelsea manager, with Arjen Robben, out for six weeks, the latest casualty.

"He played 90 minutes against Estonia (for the Netherlands), so I'm happy that there is no injury," said Mourinho. "But the next day he comes and the knee is completely fat. It's too much."

Boothroyd, celebrating two years as manager, set up his team to frustrate Chelsea and his players implemented the game-plan perfectly. Watford might even have stolen three points, as Steven Kabba's acrobatic overhead kick forced a fine save from Petr Cech early on before he wastefully volleyed wide after the interval.

Watford might be heading down, but Boothroyd is not out. "But for a couple of miskicks we might have had pulled off the impossible," he said. "It wasn't to be, but I do think it was a step forward. We are not a team that can outplay other teams, we have to disrupt, we have to upset and we have to try and impose ourselves on them. We did that and they didn't like it. But when you look at the fact (Andriy) Shevchenko is worth more than Watford's turnover, it puts things in perspective."

Indeed it was the Ukrainian who created the winning goal, delivering a sublime back-post cross that Kalou glanced past Ben Foster. Alex Ferguson must have choked on his red wine as Mourinho danced along the touchline.

Guardian Service