Harry Redknapp's festive long face must have got that little bit longer when he heard that Chelsea had been turned over by Charlton Athletic at lunchtime on Boxing Day. Fear of the backlash is a feeling he is familiar with. Who were due at Old Trafford immediately after the shock of the autumn (remember Manchester United 1 Fulham 3)? Pompey travelled north for a Mancunian clout, as Redknapp had suspected. He will not be surprised to learn Claudio Ranieri has been urging his team to have a 'winning reaction'.
Redknapp's team did bring him a smile by tea-time with Portsmouth's most encouraging performance for weeks, the 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur. With Linvoy Primus, last season's player of the year, restored to the backline, Pompey look more solid. But Tim Sherwood sustained a double break of his left leg and is out for the season. It will take a monumental effort to resist a side who are still scoring, for all of their sudden defensive wobble.
One suspects Chelsea's defenders still have the mother of all rollickings ringing in their ears. Ranieri, being a proud Italian, naturally treats every goal conceded as an affront. That four were so cheaply given away at The Valley (one fewer than their away goals-against total in the league previously) is a heinous crime. The rearguard will not have experienced much goodwill at the training ground in the past 48 hours.
Chelsea had been notoriously difficult to score against until Bolton's Bruno N'Gotty broke a long sequence of clean sheets, since when the organisation and concentration that are hallmarks of Ranieri defences have unravelled spectacularly. Before the jolt of N'Gotty's thumping header, captain Marcel Desailly had warned his team-mates about the perils of taking it easy over the Christmas period - traditionally a time when Chelsea metaphorically put their feet up rather than in.
The effect of Desailly's message? Three defeats out of four. Are Chelsea missing the Champions League? Do they need the extra games, the continental excitement, to keep everyone in their extravagant squad in rhythm? Luckily, they have a fairly comforting Premiership run ahead, consisting of three home matches and just the one trip (to Leicester City) in which to iron out their problems.
For all the sniggers that Chelsea's comeuppance at The Valley provoked, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger recognise a blip when they see one and will not be fooled into believing Chelsea's Premiership credentials have been seriously dented before the January transfer window. Surely niet , with Mr Abramovich upstairs.
Unless Patrik Berger and friends deliver another cracker. But Portsmouth haven't scored away in the league since the first week of September. A Chelsea clean sheet would take that uncomfortable run to four months.
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