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Charlton 0 Chelsea 1February 03, 2007
JOSE MOURINHO claimed John Terry's return will transform Chelsea - after Frank Lampard's long-range special gave the champions a tight victory.
Lampard's eighth goal in eight games defied Charlton's regular spells of pressure.
And, although the Blues deserved their three points, the Addicks might have embarrassed them had striker Darren Bent been fit.
Most of Chelsea's encouragement came from the safe comeback in defence of fit-again skipper John Terry as a late substitute.
Mourinho said: "It is the same as when we got Petr Cech back. We need JT as a player and as a person.
"We had a great leader in Frank Lampard, who set a very good example, but it is still good to have JT back and put Michael Essien back into midfield.
"I think now that opponents have to forget what teams have done to us over the last couple of months because now we have our defensive security back.
"I hope this was the last game Michael Essien played as a central defender."
Mourinho said of the Blues' hard-grafting win: "We fought really hard for this - I just feel that we had moments where we could have killed the game and we did not.
"But this makes it more comfortable in terms of being seven points away from Liverpool.
"I told my players that we have five finals in February in the Premiership, the FA Cup and Champions League.
"But good players should react to that pressure in a good way and be comfortable with it."
Mourinho refused to comment on renewed talk of a summer move to manage Real Madrid.
He said: "I will not play this game. If someone does not respect Chelsea or myself then that is their problem - I will not get involved.
"I respect Real Madrid and Fabio Capello and, for sure, I spoke with nobody and nobody spoke with me.
"I do not think a big club like Real or a big coach like Fabio deserve this sort of thing.
"I will not play this game. If others want to, that is up to them. But it is important that I send this message to Fabio because I respect him a lot."
"There are apparently 12 on the list - some confirm, some close their mouths, some are happy to see their names in the light but that is their problem. It is not my problem."
Charlton manager Alan Pardew said: "The champions were flexing their muscles in the first part of the game and we really struggled to cope with them.
But after that our commitment and effort was fantastic and the stadium played its part.
"There will be occasions when the quality just is not good enough. That was perhaps the case today - but we ran them close, we forced them into errors and made them look uncomfortable.
"Jose jumping up and down gave an indication of the threat we were offering and we created a couple of great chances.
"If we keep doing that, we will have a great chance of staying in the division."
The Addicks, though, rarely troubled the visitors at the back, with Cech only seriously tested with a double save from Amady Faye.
Chelsea began well enough, then rallied again after a promising spell from Charlton.
Home defender Hermann Hreidarsson mistimed his jump to clear a high ball, which saw possession break for Andriy Shevchenko on the right side of the penalty area.
The Ukrainian striker riffled in an angled drive, which England squad keeper Scott Carson turned away magnificently from point-blank range.
German midfielder Michael Ballack then saw his diving header fly wide following a left-wing cross from Wayne Bridge.
The goal eventually came on 18 minutes.
Charlton again failed to clear on the edge of their own box, Shevchenko out-muscling Faye and tapping the ball back to Lampard.
The England midfielder steadied himself before unleashing a stunning drive across Carson into the bottom left corner.
It could have been 2-0 soon after when Shevchenko headed over another good cross from Bridge.
Chelsea were in complete control now, the atmosphere inside The Valley subdued.
Carson kept out Didier Drogba's low 30-yarder.
But Cech had to back-pedal to touch over a looping ball into the area from Talal El Karkouri.
Cech then scrambled to his right to collect a low, 25-yard free-kick from Addicks skipper Matt Holland.
With winger Dennis Rommedahl pushed up into attack, the home side were at least seeing more possession now, without making the most of some positive build-up.
Chelsea, though, still looked dangerous, Drogba lashing an angled drive high into the stands.
In stoppage time, Carson had to beat away Lampard's fiercely-hit long range free-kick.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - who left Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004 to join Middlesbrough - replaced Rommedahl for the second half.
Despite the change in formation from Charlton, the visitors continued to look in control when play resumed.
And when the hosts slowly started to mount a sustained period of pressure, just as in the first half, they lacked a telling pass in the final third.
As the hour mark passed, The Valley faithful were in full voice.
Winger Jerome Thomas was dangerous down the left, but again could not deliver a decent ball in from the flank.
Chelsea were awarded a free-kick 35 yards out when Faye was adjudged to have bundled over Shevchenko.
This time Lampard's effort flew well wide.
Charlton full-back Ben Thatcher had to hack clear from in front of his own goal when the England midfielder sent over a low cross with 26 minutes left.
Charlton were now enjoying their best spell of the game, but yet without really troubling the visitors' defence.
Suddenly Faye burst into the penalty area and sent a first-time shot towards the top-right corner - which somehow Cech managed to finger-tip over.
Midfielder Faye - who scored at Portsmouth last week - was put in down the right, with Cech standing up well at his near post to make the save.
Chelsea substitute Salomon Kalou almost made it 2-0 immediately after coming on with 16 minutes to go when his shot came back of the post following Drogba's cross from the left.
Carson then saved well low from fellow Blues replacement Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Hasselbaink sent a 25-yard free-kick over, and Charlton saw their mini revival come to an end - with Carson making another fine save late on to deny Wright-Phillips.
Terry replaced Claude Makelele for the closing moments - much to the delight of the Chelsea fans.
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