Given his remarkable rise, it was with some justification that Avram Grant joked about attending Chelsea’s Christmas party last week dressed as the club’s manager, though for the biggest game of his 18-match reign yesterday he donned the mask of José Mourinho. With the visiting team sent out to defend, picking up five spiteful bookings and ending up hurling long balls to Alex as Ashley Cole grabbed Cesc Fàbregas by the throat, it was as if the Portuguese had accepted a recent invitation to return to work in London after all. The closest Chelsea got to playing sexy football was the presence of Ruud Gullit in the Sky Sports studio.

As they claim to be great friends, Grant will not follow Mourinho’s example to the letter by having a row over a Christmas card with Arsène Wenger, as happened after this fixture two years ago, though he shares his predecessor’s seasonal misfortune.

It would take Scrooge-like spirit to deny that Chelsea are being haunted by the ghost of Christmas past. Just like Mourinho last year, Grant faces an intimidating festive fixture list without several of his key players after John Terry was ruled out for several weeks with ankle ligament damage.He joins Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho on the sidelines. Unlike 12 months ago, Petr Cech is fully fit, though given his failure to claim the corner by Fàbregas that William Gallas headed home even that may be a mixed blessing.

Grant will undoubtedly be given the funds that were denied Mourinho last winter to strengthen his squad during next month’s transfer window, but coping with such a shortage of resources will still present a formidable challenge. Having embarked on an impressive 16-match unbeaten run after defeat in his first game against Manchester United, this was supposed to be the first real test of Grant’s leadership, but, as at Old Trafford, circumstances conspired to deny him a fair fight, in his own head at least.

The Israeli seized on Terry’s injury as the excuse for his second defeat, which he insists has not ended their interest in the title race — which, given it left the cumbersome pairing of Alex and Tal Ben-Haim at centre back gained him some sympathy.

“It’s disappointing because in these two games we deserved more,” Grant said. “Six points at this time of the season is not the end of the world and we can still be involved in the title race. You saw how we lost. It’s not that Arsenal is better than us.”

Grant has revealed so little of himself in three months in charge that many are still unsure of his input, though on this evidence it amounted to little more than telling his players to dig in for trench warfare. The tone was set by a tackle from behind from Frank Lampard on Emmanuel Eboué in the ninth minute for which he somehow escaped a caution, though the England midfield player, Joe Cole, John Obi Mikel, Terry and Ben-Haim soon ended up in Alan Wiley’s notebook, along with four of their opponents.

With the red mist descending, Terry was fortunate to avoid being sent off for an ugly lunge on Eboué before his participation ended in the 34th minute, with the Ivory Coast international being booked himself as he stood on his ankle in the penalty area. To the delight of the visiting fans, Eboué failed to last the course either, suffering knee ligament damage under a challenge from Joe Cole.

A scrappy contest opened up as Chelsea strove for an equaliser in the second half, with Grant again borrowing from the previous incumbent by sending a big defender up front: Alex took on a role last filled with little distinction by Robert Huth. The visiting team ended with five men up front, though the sight of Ashley Cole scrapping with Fàbregas in his own penalty box summed up their contribution to the spectacle. Some things never change.