“I told my players, in February we have five finals,” José Mourinho said before swatting away speculation linking him with a summer move to Real Madrid. It jarred to hear a manager as progressive as Mourinho use the hackneyed “every game is a cup final” line, but Chelsea are in action in all three cups this month and, with John Terry and Petr Cech back, there is no room for errors or excuses.

Terry finally returned from his back injury on Saturday, coming on as a late substitute in his first match since December 13. Mourinho said that he is not fit enough to play the whole of England’s friendly against Spain on Wednesday.

“I would only like to see John play for England if he’s ready for it,” Frank Lampard said. “It seems like he’s been out for an eternity now, so he’ll want to play, but it’ll be up to him and the medical staff. If he can get a bit of the game then fair enough, if not then he can have an extra week’s training to get him fit for next week.”

While Terry was sidelined over the festive period because of his operation, his teammates suffered complications. “What we’ve done over the past two years we kind of lost over Christmas a bit, but we’re getting it back now,” Lampard said. “Any club would miss JT or Petr Cech and it came at a critical time. I’m sure we would have had more points on the board had they been playing. But we are where we are. We’re trying to close the gap [with Manchester United] and so we have to forget what has happened and look forward.”

Lampard’s accurate first-half shot from the edge of the penalty area settled a bad game in which Chelsea did just enough. The win may have kept them firmly in the fight for top spot, but they were too laboured to look like potential — or actual — champions. While Michael Essien was excellent in central defence, his teammates have not shown similar flexibility in learning to adapt without Terry or Cech. The formation, meanwhile, was a mess, with central midfield too crowded and the two full backs wondering if they were really wing backs. It was a relief when Shaun Wright-Phillips came on and went wide to relieve the congestion.

Andriy Shevchenko was ineffective and substituted. While a striker’s contribution can be quantified in goals, Michael Ballack is perhaps fortunate that judging a midfield player’s efforts is less straightforward. This was another mediocre effort from the Germany star, dully competent against weak opponents. If, at the start of the season, Lampard appeared the subservient midfield partner as the two struggled to form an understanding, now it is the reverse.

Alan Pardew, the Charlton Athletic manager, correctly summed up his team: “No matter how much commitment you give it, sometimes you’re not good enough.” Despite Marcus Bent’s sweat, there was an absence of presence up front, although Cech made two fine saves from Amdy Faye.

After Charlton’s next game — away to United — Pardew will take his team to Spain for four days. “I want to change the training ground as well,” he said, without giving specifics. “I just want to change the dynamics, so the discipline of the building becomes better — make sure that when they come back, they see we are going forward.”

The return of Darren Bent, though, is surely more critical to Charlton’s prospects than a bricks-and-mortar makeover. The forward could be fit for the trip to Old Trafford. Meanwhile, after four successive league wins and a calming of internal tensions, Chelsea appear to have restored harmony to their environment.

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