EVEN CHELSEA NEED CATHARSIS. Shaken by their exit from the Champions League, they were stirred by individual brilliance on Saturday that provoked scenes that seemed to ratify the collective strength questioned in the wake of the defeat by Barcelona.

William Gallas was an implausible scorer; it was the kind of theatre that only champions can stage, an erasure of shortcomings in one instant of brutal beauty. It showed that Chelsea do possess a flair for the spectacular. But such is their honed efficiency, the urgency and anxiety that breed that kind of desperate invention rarely needs to surface.

If only it had done so on Tuesday. At least they could leave the pitch after this win over Tottenham Hotspur without regrets, even though they were seconds away from a result that would have prolonged the melancholy.

Both managers avoided post-match press duties. On a day when no dark forces had conspired against him, perhaps José Mourinho had nothing to say. The Chelsea manager did enter the spotlight, although for once it was spontaneous, not scripted.

Joy at Gallas’s goal was such that it catapulted Mourinho and his entourage on to the pitch, where players and staff enjoined in a therapeutic group hug. The disappointment of Barcelona had sharpened the desire.

John Terry said that he had never been involved in a celebration like it. “Not with passion like that, I don’t think,” he said. “Obviously with it being last-minute, as I grabbed Willie (Gallas), the manager was there, all the staff were there and all the players as well. When it comes to team spirit, I think that says it all.”

Steady on. It was only Tottenham. As rivalries go, this is Wile E. Coyote v Road Runner. It is now virtually an entire season of games — 32 — since Tottenham beat Chelsea in the league, although few can have been so close.

“We’ve had Chelsea on the ropes,” Jermaine Jenas, the Tottenham midfield player, said. “I don’t think teams come here and think Chelsea are invincible. We’ve come here with a positive mentality, that we could come here and get something.”

Only the teamsheet provided conclusive proof that Jenas was playing in the first half, until he materialised at the end of it to poke in the equaliser and cancel out Michael Essien’s first goal for Chelsea. Jenas was put clear with 12 minutes left but shot weakly at Petr Cech. Chelsea found new energy and in the dying seconds Gallas cut inside Paul Stalteri on the edge of the area to unleash a brilliant winner.

“I spoke to quite a few people and they were saying, ‘How are you going to bounce back from that (Barcelona)?’ ” Terry said. “I think we did that perfectly. The confidence is right back and that’s the way it needs to be.”

The defender dedicated the win to Mourinho and also to a late Chelsea hero who was mourned and celebrated in a pre-match ceremony. “That win was certainly for him (Mourinho), for the fans and for Peter Osgood,” he said. “The manager has taken a lot of stick but we got things right.”