THERE'S life in this title race yet. As the fixtures start to run out for Chelsea in their dogged pursuit of Manchester United, the reigning champions edged past Tottenham at Stamford Bridge yesterday lunchtime. And with it they reduced the gap on the leaders . . . who played later in the day . . . to three points.

They weren't deeply convincing against a visiting side that left the field in Seville just 39 hours before yesterday's early start, but as is the way of Jose Mourinho's side, they did enough, just enough, to collect all three points.

Ricardo Carvalho's 52ndminute strike from long range proved the difference between the sides in a game low on quality but after creating half-a-dozen chances in the first half, and another couple of opportunities immediately after they took the lead, Chelsea could have been pegged level before the finish.

Petr Cech had to first tip an Adel Taarabt drive around his right-hand post, and then a Dimitar Berbatov header over the bar, as Mourinho lost his rag on the sideline. But after the Bulgarian substitute's fine header there was nothing to bother the Chelsea boss unduly.

"I am happy, " even if his demeanour was a couple of notches below that particular emotion. "We did our job. In the first half Chelsea were by far the best team and we should have scored goals. In the second half we scored the goal, we had an easy chance to make it 2-0 with Salomon [Kalou] and after that Tottenham came into the game and played well. We played well for an hour but we deserved the victory and because Tottenham played well, the victory has an even better meaning for us."

There's little doubt that Chelsea owned the first half, but their domination was still pervaded by general sloppiness . . . poor passing, players on completely different wavelengths, that kind of thing.

As Tottenham worked hard in the first period without troubling the home side in any way, shape or form, Chelsea managed to create a handful of chances, even if none of them were all that clear cut.

Kalou, as appears to be his way, fired wildly over the bar from 12 yards after Paul Robinson flapped at a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross. The lively winger then shot wide from just outside the box after a twisting run and five minutes before the interval both Frank Lampard and Carvalho saw their goalbound efforts blocked by the chest of Michael Dawson and the hands of Robinson respectively.

Lucky breaks for Tottenham, both, but seven minutes after the interval the home side got the breakthrough they so desperately craved.

There appeared to be little when Carvalho strolled forward with the ball from halfway, with Tottenham obviously thinking so as nobody came out to close down the centre-half. Seeing everything open up in front of him, the Portuguese strode forwards and from 25-yards out, unleashed a low drive that somehow snuck past the right hand of Robinson and into the bottom corner of the net. The Bridge went wild but as well as Carvalho struck the ball, there was a nagging sense that the England keeper should have stopped it.

The odd thing was that just before the goal, a previous blunt Tottenham should have taken the lead. A Pascal Chimbonda cross-field ball was headed back across goal by Hossam Ghaly and the unmarked Mido headed directly at Cech in the Chelsea goal from five-yards out. Had the Egyptian nodded the ball downwards, Tottenham would have had an unlikely lead.

But instead, thanks to their roving centre-back, it was Chelsea in front and two minutes later they should have wrapped the game up. Didier Drogba strode through the inside right channel and teed up Kalou with a veritable tapin but the young striker somehow managed to scuff his shot into Robinson's breadbasket.

Just after the hour mark Drogba almost scored himself, twisting and turning Michael Dawson in a knot before unleashing a drive that Robinson did well to parry.

Spurs then, just when you expected them to tire, had their chances through their two substitutes to earn a point but Cech earned his corn with two top fingertip saves.

"We got better as the game went on and we could have sneaked a goal, " said Tottenham assistant Chris Hughton, standing in for an ill Martin Jol in front of the media.

"There's no doubt that the quick turnaround had an affect. How you gauge that affect is impossible to tell.

Had we been given an extra day we would have been grateful but I think the guys who played today deserve great credit."

Credit or not, the win was Chelsea's and the title race can continue for a few more weeks yet.