As a chorus of discord swept the blue quarter of London, sharply focused by Emile Heskey's late equaliser for Wigan which effectively hamstrung Chelsea's title ambitions, Avram Grant's rule under the Roman Empire appeared headed for ruin.

Despite promising a more expansive tactical approach, the embattled Chelsea manager has failed to gain currency where his mercurial predecessor, Jose Mourinho, enjoyed extravagant wealth - amongst the club's outspoken following.

As he trudged forlorn from the field last night, boos rung out around Stamford Bridge. Favour for the Chelsea manager was in short supply.

"They didn't like the first half, which I understand, but they have to respect the football we played in the second," he said.

"If we played like this all the time, it would be good, but it's happened to us too many times.

"We play good football and create good chances but don't use them. If we had taken 10 per cent of the chances today we'd have been leading 3-0 or 4-0. We played so good in the second half and this is the football everybody wants to see."

Chelsea now trail Manchester United by five points with a vastly inferior goal difference, and will need to beat the league leaders in two weeks and hope they lose another of their remaining three Premier League games to stand a chance of winning the title. Grant refused to concede the race was over, however.

"We're still in it and will keep on fighting," he said. "We need one more bad result from Manchester United, but this result did not help us.

"The players still believe they can do it. We need to win the games against Everton and Manchester United and need a bad result from them. This hasn't changed so much."

Since his arrival last September, Grant has taken Chelsea to the Carling Cup final and the semi-finals of the Champions League, but Stamford Bridge in the post-Mourinho age is not easily satisfied.

The Israeli drew harsh criticism for his decision to make five unforced changes against Wigan - a Mourinho-esque move if ever there was one - and if Chelsea miss out on the domestic title as a result of the lacklustre 1-1 draw, Grant's days are surely numbered.

"I change players all the time as we're at the end of the season with many games and the team are playing more than they used to," he said.

"I tried to keep them fresh as we have a big squad. It's not the first time we have played with this team.

"The second half was one of our best performances of the season. We created chances every three or four minutes and their goalkeeper gave an excellent performance."

Despite his resolute stance, Grant's position grows more untenable by the day. Having failed to deliver the entertaining football Abramovich demanded, and with Premier League title hopes all but extinguished, even a glorious triumph in the Champions League may not be enough to keep him his job.

Will Tidey / Eurosport