Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 2: Judging Portsmouth's credentials on the basis of a defeat by Chelsea may seem akin to assessing a 10-year-old on failure in a university exam.

But it was plain from the champions' comfortable win that Alain Perrin's successor will be taking on a challenging task. When the new man arrives Pompey will have had more managers (four) than home league victories (three) in 2005.

None of those wins has come this season, a worry when Portsmouth's home form has effectively kept them up in the past. Manager number three of the year, caretaker Joe Jordan, has instilled more spirit but was unable to hide the shortage of quality or goalscoring threat.

January will go a long way to determining Portsmouth's fate, and not just because they play Everton and Birmingham. The transfer window offers potential salvation but of the 14 signings made this year only four started against Chelsea; another six, including Laurent Robert, were not even substitutes. There is no more room for error, and chairman Milan Mandaric has to balance spending with making sure the finances could cope with demotion.

Chief among the targets must be a centre forward. No Portsmouth striker has scored more than twice this season and the team's meagre 11 goals from 14 league games include four in one match at Sunderland. Azar Karadas and Collins Mbesuma have not suggested they are solutions and Dario Silva was poor here. His replacement Svetoslav Todorov missed when he ought to have found the net, unaware he was offside.

Much will depend on Lomana LuaLua scoring his share of goals and making others. He was the one Portsmouth player who looked capable of beating an opponent or offering the unexpected. He was involved in his team's few openings and his first-half shot brought acrobatics from Petr Cech.

A focused, team-oriented Robert would be valuable for his crosses and set plays, but he has to prove he can be relied upon. The next manager would do well not to write off the winger when the squad is short on creativity, width and pace, but even a purposeful Robert comes with defensive risks. More thrust is needed because there was too little service into the box or support for the front players. Gary O'Neil showed some good touches but never hurt Chelsea and the central midfielders Salif Diao and Richard Hughes did not get forward or use the ball tellingly.

Portsmouth squeezed the space effectively initially, but could not respond once Hernan Crespo cunningly diverted a Paulo Ferreira shot into the net before injuring his back.

Chelsea were then content to control proceedings and make occasional openings. The win was secured when Dejan Stefanovic tripped Joe Cole, allowing Frank Lampard to score the penalty in his record 160th league game in a row. The lively Cole was fouled several times and accusations from the crowd of diving were harsh.

"I've shown I can't be kicked out of a game," the 24-year-old said, adding that he would "never" dive. "Sometimes I watch myself on TV and feel that it looks like a dive even though I know it wasn't. It's just the pace you're running at."

Portsmouth committed many fouls to try to stop Chelsea, but Jose Mourinho believes his side cannot be intimidated. "My team is a tough team with tough boys, players with a lot of confidence and not typical big players who are afraid of the physical game. People were speaking after we drew at Everton that we had a difficulty with physical games but we don't."

Michael Essien underlined his strength and technique and John Terry was powerful as Chelsea kept Portsmouth to three points from 21 at home. West Brom, West Ham, Fulham and Everton visit next. "If we can play like this we won't stay where we are," LuaLua said. "The intensity level was there." But intensity alone will not be enough. - Guardian Service