Graphic: Tactical analysis by Bill Edgar

As Avram Grant will be aware, this was the sort of result – and pretty much the sort of performance – that got José Mourinho, his predecessor, his P45. With managerial changes no longer part of the picture at Chelsea, however, Roman Abramovich, the owner, will have to grin and bear it.

Chelsea murdered Everton for most of the match, did not turn their possession and supremacy into goals and conceded from the first shot on target faced, which came in the 90th minute.

These days Grant will be commiserated on his bad luck by a benign employer who is also a friend; two months ago, this would have formed part of the case for the prosecution, not least because Chelsea appeared to settle for three points from a single goal scored by Didier Drogba in the 75th minute. Failing to press for a more convincing margin of victory was a criticism often levelled at Mourinho.

Everton’s point was no travesty, though, for it rewarded the three best players on the pitch. Tim Howard, the Everton goalkeeper, was man of the match, with one save in the first half from Frank Lampard as good as any seen this season. At other times, his handling was decisive and confident. Just behind him were Joseph Yobo and Joleon Lescott, the centre backs who had a Premier League defender’s most demanding job – dealing with Drogba, the man mountain.

The task fell mostly to Lescott, who was outstanding, and would have delivered a near-perfect display had he not lost his man from a corner for the goal. It was tough luck that this rare lapse was punished in typical Chelsea style. Salomon Kalou whipped the ball in and Drogba was left challenging Lee Carsley at the near post. His header was beyond a furious Howard in the blink of an eye.

This was an echo of the heartbreaking champions of old. Under Mourinho, Chelsea’s forte was the killer goal scored just when it looked as if the end was in sight. In this way, they would sap the morale of the opposition, stretched to full capacity trying to keep the score tied. When Drogba scored, even a resolute Everton team should have been there for the taking, such was their disappointment. Instead, Chelsea made no attempt to kick for home, much as they would not have done under Mourinho. The difference being that when Mourinho’s influence was at its most potent, Chelsea knew how to keep a lead.

This may be a simple personnel matter. Chelsea are again missing John Terry, the captain and centre back, and Petr Cech in goal, the double whammy that did irreparable damage to their title challenge last season, but a back injury suffered by Ricardo Carvalho after 28 minutes brought the introduction of the cumbersome Tal Ben Haim.

Yesterday, equally harmful was the continued absence of Paulo Ferreira, missing since the Champions League win over Schalke 04 in October. Ferreira is not the most eye-catching right back, but in the matter of holding a lead, he is an improvement on Juliano Belletti, the new arrival. When Everton equalised, it was because, one-on-one with Tim Cahill, Belletti came up short.

James McFadden, introduced at half-time and as responsible for Everton’s second-half improvement as anybody, hit a shot cutting in on the right that Cahill held up with his back to goal, shielding the ball from Belletti as it hung in the air. With a flash of attacking inspiration at odds with the cautious nature of the rest of Everton’s performance, he leapt backwards, striking a most sublime bicycle kick that left Carlo Cudicini grasping at air in the Chelsea goal.

On the touchline, Grant’s dour visage reminded of nothing more than Les Dawson’s colourful description of his battleaxe mother-in-law. A face, the comedian said, like a tin of condemned veal.

Certainly, the beautiful football that Abramovich is said to have demanded as a return on his £500 million investment is more of an aspiration for Grant than an achievement. The 6-0 victory over Manchester City the previous weekend wrote a cheque that this Chelsea team could not cash and, while Grant saw good, positive, attacking football here, he was not among the majority.

Chelsea had greater ambition than Everton, which was not hard, and Howard’s one-handed save from a shot by Lampard in the 30th minute was a stunner, but Mourinho’s style was not so dull or Grant’s brand so scintillating for there to be a huge difference between the two. How could there be when the players are largely the same, Grant’s introduction of Joe Cole on a consistent basis his most radical contribution?

Cole was good again here without fully displaying the wit to find a path through Everton’s massed ranks. The best return on his creativity was a Drogba header from a corner, which Howard dealt with comfortably. Indeed, the best move down the left came from a run by Wayne Bridge – much like the run for his money he is giving Ashley Cole – fed into Shaun Wright-Phillips, who switched the ball across to Drogba.

Amazingly, the striker missed his kick; Steven Pienaar did the same for Everton after a cut-back from Leon Osman in the fourteenth minute, but it was not quite as unexpected.

Even when Howard was threatened, the Everton defence was in top form. A shot from Lampard in the 26th minute was headed clear by Nuno Valente, just at the point when it was threatening to sneak inside the right-hand post.

Later, after Howard had punched a Lampard corner only as far as Alex, Tony Hibbert, the right back, blocked his shot on the line.

David Moyes, the Everton manager, described the performance as gritty and it was certainly that. For Grant, it was the sort of grit that lodges in the shoes and makes walking uncomfortable. Either that or he was having flashbacks to the bold promises made on the day he took the job. Something had to explain that pained expression.

How they rated

CHELSEA

4-3-3
C Cudicini 6
J Belletti Y 5
Alex 7
R Carvalho 6
W Bridge 7
M Essien Y 7
J O Mikel 7
F Lampard 7
S Wright-Phillips 6
D Drogba 7
J Cole 7

Substitutes T Ben Haim 4 (for Carvalho, 28min), S Kalou 6 (for Wright-Phillips, 63)
Not used Hilário, A Shevchenko, C Pizarro

EVERTON

4-2-3-1
T Howard 9
T Hibbett 7
J Yobo 8
J Lescott 8
Nuno Valente 7
L Carsley 6
P Neville Y 5
T Cahill 7
L Osman 7
S Pienaar Y 6
Yakubu 5

Substitutes T Gravesen (for Carsley, 75min), J McFadden 6 (for Neville, 46), V Anichebe 5 (for Yakubu, 46)
Not used S Wessels, P Jagielka

Referee: A Wiley
Attendance: 41,683