Andriy Shevchenko was left on the bench again as Chelsea coach Mourinho admitted for the first time last night that he was a “worried man”. For the fourth Premiership match in succession Chelsea’s once impenetrable defence conceded twice and, as against Reading on Boxing Day, they could manage only two in reply, and are now six points adrift of the leaders, Manchester United. Mourinho said: “Yes, I’m worried. If we were at the top of our form it wouldn’t be a drama, the drama is that we’re not. We cannot defend. We concede incredibly easy goals and in attack we have only one player (Didier Drogba) performing.”

Fulham, to their credit, were full of vim and vigour in their ultimate local derby, and deserved the draw which leaves them unbeaten in their last four. They sought to combat the champions by mirroring their system, placing Michael Brown in the Claude Makelele role. Chris Coleman, Fulham’s manager, was well satisfied. “If we could stay in the game, we felt they might get a bit nervous and they did,” he said. Full of good intentions, Chelsea fashioned two chances for Michael Essien, the man of the match, in the first four minutes and Salomon Kalou should have scored when, five yards out, he failed to make contact with Essien’s centre from the right. Andriy Shevchenko would give a king’s ransom, or a week’s wages — whichever is the greater — for such a chance.

From Timesonline Sport