After being humbled by Manchester
City in the FA Cup and drawing against West Bromwich Albion in the English
Premier League, Chelsea could hardly afford to drop points against Everton on
Saturday.
The Blues
didn't -- barely.
And it
was the man who has been dubbed 'Mr. Chelsea,' the returning John Terry, who
struck deep in injury time following a free kick from another Chelsea veteran,
Frank Lampard.
Both were
re-introduced to the starting lineup by manager Jose Mourinho against a
stubborn Everton side chasing a European spot and the 1-0 victory temporarily
increased Chelsea's lead atop the table to four points over Arsenal.
The
Gunners, however, once again cut the deficit to one point by later easing past
Sunderland 4-1 and Man City stayed within three points of Chelsea -- with a
game in hand -- courtesy of a 1-0 win over Stoke City.
Vintage
Chelsea it wasn't, but the result was all that mattered to Chelsea skipper
Terry.
"We
made it difficult but they are a very good side and are playing well under
(Everton manager Roberto) Martinez," Terry, sidelined the previous three
games with a muscle injury, told BT Sport. "It was a tough game today.
We're delighted with the win and three points."
Martinez
wasn't delighted, though.
He felt
the free kick -- given when Chelsea midfielder Ramires went down -- shouldn't
have been given by referee Lee Probert.
"It
was one of those situations where players were trying to buy too many free
kicks," Martinez told BT Sport. "You need a strong referee. The
second half is a very, very tough game for referee.
"You
can see they are trying to get a dead ball situation because they couldn't get
any joy from open play. You can see the reaction and way he loses his footing,
it's not because of contact. He is looking for the free kick."
For more
than 90 minutes, Everton indeed kept Chelsea at bay.
Everton
had the better of play in the first half, with Petr Cech saving from Leon Osman
and Kevin Mirallas scuffing his shot when in a good position at the edge of the
box.
Chelsea
could only go one way -- up -- and keeper Tim Howard foiled Lampard, Eden
Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic before Terry's winner.
"Great
ball from Lamps," said Terry. "I just managed to get a touch on it
and I think it came off Howard in the end as well."
Arsenal,
City respond
Arsenal
and Manchester City, coming off demoralizing 2-0 home defeats to Bayern Munich
and Barcelona in the Champions League, respectively, earned three points in
contrasting fashion.
Olivier
Giroud, benched against Bayern Munich in favor of the inexperienced Yaya
Sanogo, started and scored twice for Arsenal.
Arsene
Wenger, though, left record signing Mesut Ozil out of the squad after he missed
a penalty against Bayern and was criticized on the pitch by teammate Mathieu
Flamini on Wednesday for not doing enough defensively.
City
toiled against Stoke City at home, getting the lone goal from midfielder Yaya
Toure in the 70th minute.
"Teams
come here to defend and try to get a draw," City manager Manuel Pellegrini
told the club website. "We cannot win by three or four goals every
match."
Next up
for City is Sunderland in the League Cup final on March 2.
West Ham
further eased its relegation worries by beating Southampton 3-1 for a fourth
straight victory, Hull added to Cardiff's woes by thrashing the Welsh side 4-0
in Wales and Felix Magath earned a point in his managerial debut for last-place
Fulham, with the Cottagers tying West Brom 1-1.
Wayne
Rooney, who signed a lucrative contract
extension with Manchester United on
Friday, celebrated with a goal in United's 2-0 win at Crystal Palace.
"He's
a really important player," United manager David Moyes told Sky Sports.
"You think about the amount of clubs who wanted to sign him. Wayne is one
of the top players, he shows it week in, week out.
"We
never had any intention of letting him go. Wayne has been great since day
one."
Yet
United still trails Liverpool by eight points in the race for the final
Champions League spot.
Liverpool
hosts Swansea on Sunday while Tottenham, in fifth and three points behind the
Reds, visits Norwich.
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