Chelsea's revival is timed to perfection

Middlesbrough 1 Chelsea 1

Mario Melchiot's face was a picture when he sauntered out through the main entrance to the Riverside Stadium on Saturday evening. The Chelsea team bus had left without him. Claudio Ranieri had stipulated a 5.10pm departure to his players and he was not prepared to wait for any of them.

Thanks to a lift from Graham Fordy, Middlesbrough's commercial director, Melchiot swiftly made his way to Teesside Airport. The Dutchman's fate, though, said much for the discipline that has been instilled in what Ken Bates likes to refer to as "the new Chelsea". There is no messing around on the pitch now either.

As Steve McClaren was left musing on Saturday night: "There were times in the past when Chelsea wouldn't have wanted to come to the North-East on a cold December day." Like December 1999, the Middlesbrough manager might have added, when the old Chelsea were 4-0 down at Sunderland in 38 minutes.

It's different now. The boys in blue set about their task on murky, freezing Teesside with such vim and vigour they could easily have been 4-1 up before the break. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink spurned three good chances in the first six minutes alone. Then there were two clear shots by Gianfranco Zola and Frank Lampard, both stopped superbly by Mark Schwarzer, and a goal-line clearance by Massimo Maccarone that kept out a Mario Stanic header.

John Terry did score for Chelsea, from an uncleared corner three minutes before half-time. It merely put them level, though, Geremi – a transfer target for Ranieri last summer – having beaten Carlo Cudicini with a free-kick that never should have been.

The score on the injustice front finished even when Szilard Nemeth was inaccurately ruled offside in the process of beating Schwarzer on the hour. The contest finished even, too – and just about rightly so, Middlesbrough having enjoyed marginally the better of the second-half after bolstering their outnumbered three-man midfield with the half-time replacement of Maccarone with Noel Whelan, who headed the best chance of the second period straight into the arms of Cudicini.

Still, a Chelsea team of old might have buckled after a half of near-absolute domination had come not so much to nought as to 1-1. As McClaren acknowledged: "They've got great resilience now – and a great consistency, too." They have indeed. Ranieri's team may have missed their chance to go top but they are unbeaten in nine Premiership matches now and lost none of their momentum on Saturday for being without one of the central pillars of the defence upon which their new-found strength has been forged.

Terry was a more than able replacement for Marcel Desailly, both as a partner for William Gallas and as a team leader. "He is our captain for the future," Ranieri enthused.

In the immediate future, Ranieri and his men could do with some help from McClaren's Middlesbrough, who play Arsenal on Saturday and Manchester United on Boxing Day. Then again, Chelsea have already had one good turn from Boro – as their flying Dutchman would happily testify.

Goals: Geremi (32) 1-0; Terry (42) 1-1.

Middlesbrough (4-3-1-2): Schwarzer 7; Parnaby 6, Ehiogu 7, Southgate 7, Queudrue 6; Geremi 8, Boateng 6, Greening 6; Nemeth 7; Maccarone 5 (Whelan 6, h-t), Boksic 6. Substitutes not used: Crossley (gk), Vidmar, Wilson, Wilkshire.

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cudicini 7; Melchiot 6, Terry 8, Gallas 7, Le Saux 8; Gronkjaer 6 (De Lucas 5, 73), Lampard 7, Petit 6, Stanic 6 (Zenden 6, 70); Zola 7, Hasselbaink 6 (Gudjohnsen, 84). Substitutes not used: De Goey (gk), Morris.

Referee: M Messias (York) 6.

Bookings: Chelsea: Petit.

Man of the match: Terry.

Attendance: 29,160.