Chelsea boss Grant still struggling to carry off fancy title

'Me?' joked Avram Grant yesterday. 'I turned up as the Chelsea manager — but don't tell anyone.'

You see, 16 games unbeaten in three demanding competitions and even the Israeli still cannot quite believe that he has been thrust into the spotlight.

Not even a four-year contract worth £12million and counting Chelsea's billionaire benefactor among his best friends is enough to convince Grant that he can really carry this off.

In the dressing room at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow, he will need to convince 11 Chelsea players that he can surpass the Special One's achievements.

He hasn't the style and swagger of Jose Mourinho. Who has? But he must convince his players he has the ability to outwit Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

"I don't know if I have time to get it right," said Chelsea's manager at the club's Cobham training centre yesterday. "I always think I have time but never more than an hour."

Since Mourinho made off with the tactics board when he quit four days before their Barclays Premier League defeat at Manchester United in September, Grant's unbeaten run has brought some stability to Stamford Bridge.

He coped admirably with the crisis that engulfed the club when Mourinho was sent on his way and, as he is anxious to remind people, Chelsea qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League with a game to spare.

They travel to Arsenal just three points behind the Premier League leaders. Perhaps the Israeli does not get the recognition he deserves but he will have to earn his money at the Emirates Stadium.

He said: "I can't compare Arsenal with Chelsea. We are on our way to our target and everyone can see that. It takes time to build a style and to talk about a five-year plan is too far. In football, it is not about the long term.

"You work in the short term to build for the long term. We want to be a good team in the future but we also have to think about tactics: 4-3-3 or 4-4-2?

"Arsenal and Chelsea are two good teams who play different ways. It will be a good game but I don't think managers will be sliding on their knees."

Grant has a tough act to follow in this fixture because Arsenal have not beaten Chelsea since February 2004, a run of 10 games, and Wenger never beat Mourinho.

Putting that into context, in the six years before that run it was Chelsea who could not get a win over Arsenal in a sequence of 17 games from November 1998.

Chelsea fans will remember last May's scenes at Arsenal when Mourinho marched across the pitch to salute them.

The 1-1 draw was a dramatic end to their hopes of winning a third straight Premier League title but predictably they are among the chasing pack again.

There is much to admire about Arsenal, even in the wake of their surprise 2-1 defeat at Middlesbrough last weekend, and Grant is one of the first to applaud them.

"I have known Wenger for 10 years and I watched Arsenal train a few times. He is a good friend of mine," said Grant. "He is a great coach, a great person and has a great football vision. He is a man who goes the right way about the game. Wenger has not just been about the short term but building a base. I like to take things from coaches I respect but I do things my way.

"No two coaches are the same and no two teams are. It has taken him years to do it but I am trying to do the same for Chelsea in the short and long term. In some respects my style is the same as Arsenal but they have different players to us.

"He doesn't have anything against English players but if he can't find them he has a responsibility to his club to find others. I respect that."

Andriy Shevchenko will lead the attack for Chelsea, who are without Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien. As for Grant, the mask really will be off tomorrow afternoon.