Interviewed in our sister magazine OSM last week, Tony "The Student" Adams said of Chelsea: "Now all the signings could have a detrimental effect. Or they could win the league." It's hard to find a flaw in the great man's logic. Either Chelsea will win the league. Or they won't. That much is certain. Everything else is up for grabs.
In particular, theories as to just what Roman Abramovich might be up to. It was predicted that the closing of the transfer window would put a stop to the Russian's investments. Hasn't happened. He has merely redirected his gaze towards executives and management and anything else he isn't prevented from buying. In comes Peter Kenyon and more will follow.
Keep it under your hat but Roman is conducting an intriguing social experiment on the limits of capitalism. His role-model is Guy Grand from Terry Southern's excellent novel The Magic Christian.
Grand passes his time in the book making it hot for members of the public by offering increasingly large sums to embark upon increasingly bizarre tasks. Similarly, Abramovich is about to make things hot for people.
Attracting a dozen world-class footballers to come to play for a club some consider a joke was a doddle. As was the signing of the executive. His next moves may be more fun. Perhaps a £750,000 per annum offer to Glenn Hoddle to do the meeting and greeting in the family section. There are whispers that David Dein, a man who can use, without irony, the phrase "wake up and smell the coffee", will be offered seven figures to head up the canteen.
We shall see. Yesterday Claudio Ranieri refrained from picking a quartet of new signings - Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson - and placed Claude Makelele, as the man who makes the team tick probably the most expensive watch battery in the world, on the bench. All this out of respect for Slavia Prague whom they play on Tuesday. Tottenham, meanwhile, found room for Rohan Ricketts in the middle of their midfield.
In the first minute, a shot from Jamie Redknapp was beaten away by Carlo Cudicini, Chelsea showing a fragility at the back which made the omission of William Gallas from the starting line-up even less explicable. There's only so much respect you can pay Slavia Prague.
Chelsea looked disjointed. Both Emmanuel Petit, who somewhat belatedly announced his retirement from international football, and Celestine Babayaro, who often has difficulty returning from international football, misdirected passes and Frank Lampard, with little help from those around him, tried to do too much.
Tottenham, in contrast, were spirited and, on occasion, dangerous. Both Frederic Kanoute and Bobby Zamora showed more vim than Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink. They fully deserved to take the lead when Kanoute swivelled away from the attentions of Mario Melchiot and scored comfortably.
Chelsea appeared to have no answer, totally reliant on one of their magic men creating something out of thin air. Which Lampard duly did, somehow managing to get his head to a Gronkjaer cross and directing the ball past Keller. Two minutes later Damien Duff ran at the heart of the Spurs defence, timed his pass perfectly and Adrian Mutu did the rest. For a team playing poorly they were doing surprisingly well, and might have had a third before half-time when Keller saved well from Lampard.
Chelsea were sharper after the break. There was a fluency which had been missing before and if Jimmy-Flawed had been sharper the game might have been wrapped up. Spurs looked played out, suddenly aware of the gulf in class and at their wits' end as to how they might bridge it.
Time after time Mutu, Duff and Gronkjaer ran at the defence. There was no respite. On 65 minutes Makelele came on to occupy the space in front of the back four. The battery who will allow everyone else to tick. Within minutes Gallas had replaced Jesper Gronkjaer and the shape had been tinkered with again. And then again when Joe Cole replaced the impressive Duff.
The third tinker was the match-winner. Makelele passed to Cole, who passed to Mutu, who scored. It was that simple. He might have had a hat-trick after Cole, enjoying his usual 15 minutes, struck a long shot that Keller parried straight back to him. But he missed.
Ranieri joked with the fourth official and Hoddle, weighing up his employment options, looked towards the family section. Then, with three minutes left, confusion in the Chelsea defence, Zamora hit the post and Kanoute hit the back of the net. Tottenham fans who had been leaving returned to their seats - to watch Chelsea add a fourth when Babayaro crossed for Hasselbaink.
"I am not happy right now, but I will be when I look at the table in the morning and see that we picked up another three points." said Ranieri. "You have to earn your luck in life," said Hoddle.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Adrian Mutu Damien Duff had a fine game and the most significant performance, brief as it was, may have come from Claude Makelele, who looked like a composed Roy Keane. But the award goes to Mutu. Quick feet, pacey and intelligent. When he lines up alongside Hernan Crespo, better defences than Tottenham's will struggle.
