If he could bring himself to tune into a freezing English winter from the sunshine in Setúbal, even José Mourinho would have been impressed with the resilience that Chelsea showed in holding out for three points against Blackburn Rovers yesterday. However, they will need even more fortitude in the coming weeks as a hard-fought win came at a huge cost.

Petr Cech is set to miss the holiday programme for a second successive season after suffering a side strain at the start of the second half, with his rehabilitation unlikely to have been helped by the bizarre decision to keep him on the pitch for almost 20 minutes, despite the fact that he could barely walk. With Didier Drogba and John Terry out until February, the ghost of last Christmas is returning to haunt Chelsea.

The lengthy absences of Cech and Terry last winter played a crucial part in the club’s failure to retain the title, which may go some way to explaining Avram Grant’s vacillation after the goalkeeper went down as a result of a collision with Roque Santa Cruz. The Czech Republic goalkeeper could barely stand upright, but no action was taken until he sought treatment for a second time and Steve Bennett, the referee, sent him from the field for his own good. Chelsea were fortunate that Cech was not tested while he was limping around on one leg, with his only requirement being a goal kick, and even that caused him to wince.

While Grant, the first-team coach, remained unmoved, the visiting fans saw the need for a substitution, launching into a chorus of “We need Hilário” (Carlo Cudicini had failed to travel after sustaining a rib injury in training). They may have changed their minds after the eccentric goalkeeper was finally brought on, as his first act was a wild punch at a corner by David Bentley and his second was to miss another corner completely, watching helplessly as Santa Cruz headed wide.

Hilário did recover his composure to make an excellent save from Santa Cruz after another cross from the impressive Bentley, but Grant will not want to rely for too long on a man who viewed his move to Stamford Bridge as an extended holiday.

Such straitened circumstances made Chelsea’s eighth win in 12 league matches under Grant all the more impressive, a victory reminiscent of the 1-0 win at Ewood Park in February 2005 that effectively brought them their first championship in 50 years.

This team lack the cohesion and confidence of their predecessors, but retain the same hunger and fighting spirit. Whether they have sufficient quality to mount a serious challenge for the title is open to question, but they will not give up without a fight.

Forget all about Grant’s claims for a brave new era based on free-flowing attacking football, this was Chelsea of the Mourinho era; outplayed for long periods, they grabbed a goal and simply clung on. Other than two shots from Frank Lampard that were well saved by Brad Friedel, the visiting team barely mustered an attempt on goal after Joe Cole had opened the scoring in the 22nd minute.

Blackburn could count themselves unfortunate to suffer a fourth successive defeat, although they had only themselves to blame after failing to take advantage of their first-half chances and proving unable to pressurise Chelsea just after half-time, when they were at their most vulnerable. Their dominance in the first 20 minutes was almost embarrassing, as Grant’s side consistently failed to string simple passes together.

Bentley, in particular, was a revelation in his free role just off Santa Cruz without quite exploiting it to the full. The Paraguay striker provided an early sign of Blackburn’s aggressive intent with a shot blocked by Ricardo Carvalho. The resulting corner from Morten Gamst Pedersen floated menacingly across goal.

Then Bentley took over. The England midfield player is obviously eager to impress Fabio Capello, but needs to add greater cutting edge to his brilliant build-up play if he is to become the complete package. In the space of seven mesmerising minutes, Bentley cut inside from the left to shoot narrowly over, hit the bar from a free kick and played a wonderful through-ball from his own half to Santa Cruz.

Chelsea’s desperation was summed up by a clumsy challenge by Alex, who was rightly booked for clattering into Bentley as he sped down the wing.

If it had been boxing, Bennett would have considered a mandatory count of eight at this stage, but Chelsea hauled themselves off the ropes and back into the game. Andriy Shevchenko missed a good chance when he shot over the bar after a turn in the penalty area. Joe Cole gave him a finishing lesson a minute later. As Blackburn pressed forward, Carvalho won the ball on the halfway line and it fell to Salomon Kalou, who found Cole with a first-time, cross-field ball that was the mirror image of Cole’s so-called “ball of the century” against Valencia in October. The England midfield player had much work to do but did it to perfection, blasting past Friedel from the edge of the penalty area.

That was the beginning and end of Chelsea’s attacking ambition, even if a pragmatist such as Mourinho will not have been complaining.

Blackburn Rovers (4-5-1) B Friedel 7 B Emerton 5 Z Khizanishvili 6 R Nelsen 6 S Warnock 5 D Dunn Y 6 Tugay Kerimoglu 5 S Reid 5 M G Pedersen 6 D Bentley 8 R Santa Cruz 7 Substitutes: J Roberts (for Tugay, 74min) Not used: J Brown, R Savage, B McCarthy, A Mokoena Next: Manchester City (a)

Chelsea (4-3-3) P Cech 6 P Ferreira 6 Alex Y 4 R Carvalho Y 6 A Cole 6 M Essien 6 J O Mikel 6 F Lampard 7 J Cole 6 A Shevchenko 6 S Kalou 7 Substitutes: Hilário 5 (for Cech, 64), S Wright-Phillips 5 (for Shevchenko, 68), C Pizarro (for J Cole, 82) Not used: M Ballack, T Ben Haim Next: Aston Villa (h)

Referee S Bennett
Attendance 23,966