Chelsea’s hard-fought victory over relegation-threatened Manchester City will not have sent reverberations across Europe, but John Terry insisted that last night’s 1-0 win has given his team-mates the belief to complete an unprecedented quadruple. Frank Lampard’s twentieth goal of a remarkable season, from the penalty spot, was enough to move the champions to within six points of Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premiership, while it also raised the prospect of City being relegated by their local rivals when they meet in the penultimate match of the season.

Stuart Pearce may not make it that far, with defeats on forthcoming visits to Middlesbrough and Newcastle United likely to spell the end of his two-year reign. This was City’s fifth successive Premiership defeat and the man who will take charge of England’s Under-21 European Championship campaign this summer may have plenty of time on his hands during the build-up.

With an FA Cup sixth-round replay against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday and a Champions League quarterfinal against Valencia next month, Chelsea have more grandiose objectives to contend with, and Terry is confident that they can win the lot. The England defender emerged unscathed from his first match since being knocked unconscious in the Carling Cup final.

“The belief is there,” Terry said. “We go into each game thinking we can win it [the quadruple] and focus on winning each one. It was important to get it [United's lead] back to six points and we’ve done that. It was great to be back and involved in the team again.”

While José Mourinho went away with the points, Pearce took plenty of encouragement from his team’s performance, a vast improvement on Sunday’s 2-0 FA Cup defeat by Blackburn Rovers, during which they were barracked by their fans. In addition to dismal form, Pearce has also had to contend with divisions in the dressing-room between senior players and recent foreign signings, although he is adamant that the problems have been resolved.

“People say we’re split down the middle, but there’s no way we can play like that with a split camp,” Pearce said. “I’m pleased with the endeavour and thought we deserved something from the game. We’ve got to show another ten performances like that to win back the fans. The fans here are pretty genuine and if you get booed off it’s not for nothing. I think they’ll appreciate that performance if not the result.

“We’re under the microscope and the only way we can alleviate that is to get a win sooner rather than later. I still believe there are eight teams who can get relegated. We’ve got some tough games but so have they.”

City are six points clear of Charlton Athletic, who are third bottom, and have played one game fewer, though a glance at their fixtures shows why the cushion will not translate into complacency. Six of their ten remaining games are away from home, with the home match against Charlton on Good Friday assuming an importance of epic proportions.