So much for the theory that Avram Grant is playing the football Roman Abramovich craved. A win is a win, as the professionals tell us, but this was the sort of performance that got Jose Mourinho the sack.

First, the stats. Chelsea are now unbeaten in their last 70 league matches at Stamford Bridge, and Grant has not been on the losing side in his last 14 in all competitions. Now the reality. Grant’s style of play is no better than Mourinho’s was, and he was left trotting out the old cliche that ugly wins are the ones that win you championships. For a long time, Curbishley’s game plan worked, frustrating Chelsea to the crowd’s increasingly vocal displeasure.

Without half the team they consider first choice, West Ham sought to contain their more celebrated opponents, and succeeded for 75 minutes. Once they have Dean Ashton and Craig Bellamy back in their starting lineup, the Hammers will have a tilt at any windmill. Without their cutting edge, they need to be circumspect, as they were here, with a 4-4-1-1 lineup featuring Carlton Cole as their solitary orthodox striker. Their application was such that it took Chelsea until well into the second half before they managed a decent strike at goal, and the thought occurred that had Curbishley been England’s manager two weeks ago, such tactics might well have denied Croatia their fateful winner.

Grant said afterwards: “They came here to defend and they did it very well. They played with aggression which caused us a lot of problems in the first half.” If only England could have said the same at Wembley 11 days ago. Frank Lampard was abused throughout by the West Ham fans, but it was another of the East End’s alumni, Joe Cole, who scored for the first time against his old club to win the game. The goal the game was crying out for was delayed until the 76th minute, when Carlo Cudicini’s long clearance was headed on by Didier Drogba and found its way via Salomon Kalou to Cole, who evaded Robert Green by stepping to the right before scoring with an emphatic, rising shot from six yards. Curbishley claimed Cole had been “slightly offside”, but television replays suggested the officials were right to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side. The West Ham manager probably had more of a point when he suggested that Jon Obi Mikel, otherwise a capable deputy of Claude Makelele, might have been sent off just before half-time for a bad tackle from behind on Scott Parker.

On an afternoon that raised few pulses, and even fewer talking points, much was made of Drogba’s complaint at half-time that somebody in the crowd had been disorienting him by flashing a laser in his eyes. The first 45 minutes were an eyesore, but there was no evidence of The Shining. Danny Gabbidon, preferred to Anton Ferdinand of late, made a better fist than most of marking the powerful Ivorian, and was not alone in the claret and blue ranks for assiduous efficiency in his defensive work. Matthew Upson and George McCartney also distinguished themselves in the goalless 75 minutes that had Grant looking more lugubrious than ever. In midfield, Parker and the unsung Hayden Mullins were more effective than Lampard and Steve Sidwell, who continues to look more like a Reading player than a Chelsea one, and until the goal went in, West Ham were good value for a point. “I thought we were going to come away with one, and I don’t think a draw would have flattered us,” Curbishley said. “My players did a really good job defensively, and I’m delighted with the way they performed. We lost concentration for the goal, but I thought Joe was slightly offside.”

When it was put to him that West Ham had set out to defend, their unapologetic manager said: “We came to match them man for man, to stop them dictating, which is what we did. Unfortunately we didn’t have quite enough in our locker going the other way, but we won’t be the last team to come here to stop Chelsea playing.” Grant admitted he would rather be in the dugout than the press room, and sounded like it. “It was not a great game, but we had the ball for most of the game”, he said. “We didn’t create a lot of chances, but we did enough to win by more than 1-0. We’ve had a fantastic run these past 14 games, but more important than that is the quality of football we’ve been playing.”

You would hardly have noticed yesterday, but Chelsea are back in contention for the title, with the power to add three points at home to Sunderland next Saturday. Away the following week at Arsenal will be the acid test of their potential.

The Grant effect

- Grant took over at Chelsea on September 20 and has won 11 of his 15 games.

He has lost just once – 2-0 in his first match at Manchester United

- Since being booed off after a 1-1 draw with Rosenberg in Jose Mourinho’s fi nal match, Chelsea have reached the knockout stage of the Champions League and climbed to second in the Premier League

- Grant’s Chelsea have conceded only five goals, and scored 33, including a 6-0 win over Manchester City

Match stats

Star man: Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Player ratings:

Chelsea: Cudicini 6, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Terry 6, Bridge 5, Sidwell 5 (Wright-Phillips 66min), Mikel 7, Lampard 5, Kalou 6, J Cole 7 (Makelele 89min), Drogba 8
West Ham: Green 6, Neill 6, Gabbidon 7, Upson 7, McCartney 7, Solano 6 (Ljunberg 74min), Parker 6 (Spector 79min), Mullins 7, Etherington 6 (Ashton 79min), Boa Morte 6, C Cole 6