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Carvalho carves up Spurs as Chelsea keep Premiership hopes alive
LONDON (AFP) - Chelsea just about stayed in touch with Manchester United at the top of the English Premiership thanks to Saturday's 1-0 victory over an under-strength Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge.
Portugal centre-half Ricardo Carvalho scored the vital goal with a 35-yard blast in the 52nd minute.
Spurs manager Martin Jol rested strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane plus midfielder Didier Zokora following their 2-1 UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg defeat in Seville on Thursday.
Yet Jose Mourinho's side looked sluggish and needed a goalkeeping error from England's Paul Robinson to force the breakthrough early in the second half.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had claimed earlier that Chelsea had been granted the gift of facing Tottenham just 48 hours after their clash in Spain, which undoubtedly took its toll on Jol's young side.
As it was, the Blues did at least succeed in their aim of pushing United for another week, and they did so while keeping their 19th clean sheet of the season in the league.
The first half was a dull affair, with Chelsea only once managing to extend Robinson when he saved well from Carvalho.
Besides that, only a deflected Frank Lampard free-kick gave the Tottenham defence anything to think about.
The early stages of the second half did, however, suggest that the contest was about to get interesting.
Referee Rob Styles failed to award a penalty in the 48th minute when Chelsea captain John Terry was pushed by Pascal Chimbonda.
A minute later at the other end, Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech needed to be alert to tip over Mido's close range header following a flick-on by Hossam Ghaly from a Chimbonda cross.
But in the 51st minute Chelsea finally broke the deadlock when Carvalho took a pass from Jon Obi Mikel, before advancing and unleashing a low shot from 35 yards which flew past Robinson and into the bottom left corner.
It was another moment to forget for the England goalkeeper, who will claim he was left unsighted by his static defence.
Robinson did partially redeem himself soon after when he saved well inside the six-yard box from Salomon Kalou. He then did well to keep out a fierce drive from Didier Drogba after the Ivory Coast striker made space to shoot in the 60th minute.
Eight minutes from time, a powerful header by substitute Berbatov from a Steed Malbranque free-kick forced a fine save from Cech.
Another bright spot for Chelsea was the return to league action for Joe Cole. The England midfielder played 14 minutes of his side's Champions League quarter-final clash against Valencia on Wednesday, and followed that up with five minutes against Spurs.
Tottenham pushed for an equaliser in the closing stages and wasted a fine chance when Malbranque's overhead kick in stoppage time went over the bar.
At the other end, Drogba would surely have made it 2-0 had it not been for an excellent recovery and interception by Ricardo Rocha.
Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack, who came off the bench late on, should then have scored but found his path blocked by the impressive Michael Dawson.
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