Swansea 0-1 Chelsea: Ba's strike against 10 men keeps Blues hot on Liverpool's heels

Straight down the tunnel and not a word for the press. A win is a win, but a victory like this will do nothing to convince Jose Mourinho that he commands anything other than a battering ram with a blunt nose. He’s said it all before so perhaps there was no point in repeating himself.

True, it is a win that puts Chelsea close to where they want to be. Had he stopped for a chat, he might have even admitted they now have a chance of winning the title.

But this was a laboured win against a side playing with 10 men for 75 minutes, a performance of wasted chances and not many deep breaths. They cantered and strolled, comfortable and occasionally attractive, but not exactly busting a gut and certainly not clinical.

Here, they managed 26 shots and, astonishingly, hit the target with only three of them. A season in miniature? They might have won by five or six, but instead they were perhaps lucky to win by one, Demba Ba’s winning strike taking a deflection before it was helped by some poor goalkeeping.

Alive: Demba Ba scores the only goal of the game to keep Chelsea's title bid alive

Hot on their heels: The win keeps the Blues two points behind leaders Liverpool

On target: The goal was just Ba's seventh of the season

Off: Swansea defender Chico Flores was sent off for two bookings in the first 16minutes

Match facts

Swansea (4-2-3-1): Vorm 5; Rangel 6.5, Flores 3, Williams 6.5, Davies 6; Britton 6.5 (De Guzman 86), Shelvey 6.5; Dyer 6 (Ngog 73, 6), Hernandez 6 (Amat 19, 6), Routledge 7; Bony 6.5.

Subs not used: Taylor, Tremmel, Fulton, Emnes.

Sent off: Flores.

Manager: Garry Monk 6.5

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 6.5; Ivanovic 6.5, Cahill 6.5, Terry 6.5, Azpilicueta 6; Ramires 5.5 (Oscar 45, 6), Matic 7.5; Salah 5.5, Willian 6, Schurrle 6 (Eto’o 46, 4.5); Ba 6.5 (Mikel 79)

Subs not used: Cole, Luiz, Torres, Oscar, Mikel, Schwarzer.

Booked: Schurrle, Mikel.

Goals: Ba.

Manager: Jose Mourinho 7

Ref: Phil Dowd 7

Att: 20,761

Man of the match: Nemanja Matic

*Player ratings by Riath Al-Samarrai at the Liberty Stadium

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Maybe they were helped, also, by referee Phil Dowd, who made the right decision in a questionable manner when the game’s key moment arose after 15 minutes. Chico Flores had committed his second poor foul in the space of 84 seconds, and he was rightly booked for both.

But the contention came from the fact that Dowd made a delayed call to show the second yellow, having initially appeared to decide a free-kick was punishment enough. John Terry was part of the swarm around the referee that preceded the change of heart and he later admitted: ‘I told the referee: “that’s a second yellow card for me”.’

Right as the call was, Swansea manager Garry Monk was less than impressed by the persuasive tactics, saying: ‘He initially signalled no, then their bench get in the fourth official’s ear, and their players surround the referee.

‘I was surprised it took so long for the decision to be made. I’m sure the referee’s got a legitimate reason for doing it the way he did.’

On such moments can a season turn and that might apply as strongly to both clubs.

Mourinho has gone to peculiar lengths in writing off his team’s chances in this campaign and the message appears to have been passed down to his assistant, Steve Holland, who said: ‘I think not much has changed. We are five clear of Manchester City who have two games more than us. Manchester City win their matches and they finish ahead of Chelsea.’

All of which piles more emphasis on to Chelsea’s April 27 match against Liverpool. Terry added: ‘It’s very tough, but it’s very important we keep winning our games as well. It’s obviously out of our hands at the moment.

Protest: Pablo Hernandez argues with Phil Dowd after the referee shows Chico Flores the red card

Snatched: Samuel Eto'o drags a good opportunity wide

Foot in: Leon Britton blocks an Oscar shot

‘We need City to draw or lose a game and we’ve still got to go to Anfield so it’s a massive end to the season for everyone.’

For Swansea, the end of the campaign might herald the end of Flores’s Swansea career. A second red in six games has made him a liability, his foul on Andre Schurrle on 15 minutes coming just moments after he hauled down Willian in Chelsea’s half.

The recriminations were strong in the crowd, particularly towards Terry, but however the decision was reached, it was the right one.

Not that Chelsea made it count for nearly an hour after the incident. They dominated possession, but it’s hard to imagine Liverpool or Manchester City being so wasteful in so many good positions. Swansea were admirably dedicated in their task, but this was another game against smaller opposition where Chelsea have appeared flat.

Slipping: Garry Monk's team are now just three points above the drop zone

Chase: Branislav Ivanovic chases after Swansea winger Wayne Routledge

Strong: Nemanja Matic is held off by Swansea striker Wilfried Bony

It was Salah who had the best of the first-half chances, twice getting on the end of lovely, quickfire moves and not hitting the target on either occasion. Good chances, bad misses. Mourinho carried a look that said as much.

In between, Nathan Dyer and Wilfried Bony forced good saves from Petr Cech. More than that, though, they fought and they got rough. Bony crunched into Nemanja Matic, a pair of proper heavyweights. Leon Britton, all 5ft 6in of him, beat Willian in a 50-50.

They are surely too good to go down, if such a thing exists. Monk said: ‘I told them if we show that in the last four games we will have no problems.

Turn: Cesar Azpilicueta is pursued by Nathan Dyer

Under pressure: Wayne Routledge tries to move past Mohamed Salah

Strike: Pablo Hernandez attempts a shot at the Chelsea goal

Rest: Mourinho shakes hands with Demba Ba after he was taken off with 10 minutes left

‘But we are not in a good position. We have to do something quickly’ Mourinho had something to do here and his response at half-time was to take off Ramires and Schurrle for Oscar and Samuel Eto’o. The impact was underwhelming.

Willian blew one chance and Ba missed the target with a header. Eto’o wasted two excellent opportunities.

Swansea had one chance of note in retaliation, Wayne Routledge shooting against Terry’s shoulder, before Ba made his contribution after 68 minutes.

Matic collected a throw in and was perhaps afforded too much space by Shelvey before looping a long ball to Ba, who turned outside Williams and hit a snapshot. The ball deflected off Williams and squirmed under Vorm.

It was an ugly goal for an ugly win.

Wrapped up: Ben Davies holds off Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah

Skip: Jonathan de Guzman makes a sliding tackle on Mohamed Salah

Stumbling: Andre Schurrle and Nathan Dyer battle for the loose ball

Driving on: Willian tries to get Chelsea on the attack

Shield: Demba Ba keeps the ball under pressure from Angel Rangel

Arm's length: Jonjo Shelvey keeps Ramires away from the ball

Silence: Players and fans observe the minute's silence at the Liberty City Stadium

Pos.	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	34	24	5	5	51	77
2	Chelsea	34	23	6	5	42	75
3	Manchester City	32	22	4	6	54	70
4	Everton	33	19	9	5	22	66
5	Arsenal	33	19	7	7	16	64
6	Tottenham Hotspur	34	18	6	10	0	60
7	Manchester United	33	17	6	10	18	57
8	Southampton	34	13	9	12	5	48
9	Newcastle United	34	14	4	16	-14	46
10	Stoke City	34	11	10	13	-10	43
11	West Ham United	33	10	7	16	-7	37
12	Crystal Palace	33	11	4	18	-15	37
13	Hull City	33	10	6	17	-6	36
14	Aston Villa	33	9	7	17	-14	34
15	Swansea City	34	8	9	17	-5	33
16	West Bromwich Albion	33	6	15	12	-11	33
17	Norwich City	34	8	8	18	-27	32
18	Fulham	34	9	3	22	-40	30
19	Cardiff City	34	7	8	19	-34	29
20	Sunderland	32	6	7	19	-25	25