Mourinho's kisses are sweeter than whine

To his army of acolytes, that is likely to bring more hard luck stories and even more excuses if they fail to recapture the Premiership crown. For his enemies, it will inevitably lead to more explosive rows, more boardroom acrimony and another season with the spotlight firmly on Stamford Bridge.

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In that case, bring it on.

"It was a thank you for everything and not a goodbye," confirmed Mourinho after blowing kisses to the supporters who still worship the ground he walks on during a nauseating lap of honour.

The Chelsea manager is just about the only person who could persuade the paying public that surrendering the Premiership title and exiting the European Cup in the space of five days has somehow been eclipsed by equalling the 63 match unbeaten home record set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1980.

For me, it is 98 consecutive matches at home without being beaten,' said Mourinho, who went 35 home games unbeaten at Porto as well. I am pleased that we have equalled Liverpool's record, but I am not a man for records.

I told my players that when you lose the Premiership, as we have done, the record suddenly becomes important. If we are not beaten in our first home game next season, then we will be proud to say the record is ours.'

That will probably come as an almighty relief to the rest of the country because it appears to have taken on unprecedented significance ever since the Premiership trophy made its way north.

Chelsea's fifth successive draw — three of them at home — marks the club's longest run without a Premiership victory under Mourinho, but they were let off the hook by Everton.

David Moyes' side had a chance to finish fifth and they stretched Chelsea to their limits with an industrious performance. In James Vaughan, Everton have a young striker who plays without fear.

After giving Khalid Boulahrouz the run around in the first half, he applied the finishing touch to Leon Osman's ball across the box in the 50th minute.

With Mikel Arteta pulling the strings in Everton's midfield and Phil Neville providing a typically abrasive edge in front of their back four, Moyes' side were worthy of their lead.

They were prevented from adding a second when Petr Cech saved Vaughan's overhead kick, but they could not prevent Didier Drogba scoring his 20th Premiership goal of the season when he finished off a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross.

That strike was met by celebrations in the stands, but it sparked pandemonium on the pitch as Moyes made his way on to the pitch to remonstrate with a linesman for failing to spot an alleged foul on Arteta.

Mark Halsey sent Moyes off but the Everton manager spotted a spare seat in the family section and roughed it with Chelsea's supporters for the next half hour.

Moyes said: "I'm not going to whinge, but I was brought up to stand up for my rights and that's what I did for my team. I shouldn't have gone on the pitch and I had to apologise to a few parents in the stand but we felt we had a chance of beating Chelsea and finishing fifth.

"For a club that doesn't pay big wages or spend huge amounts on transfers, it has been a terrific season."

A UEFA Cup campaign awaits Everton but Chelsea's battle-weary players will have to wait another six days before they can take up residence on the sun loungers.

When they return to training tomorrow to prepare for Saturday's FA Cup Final against Manchester United, Mourinho will take another head count.

Mikel John Obi limped out of yesterday's tepid draw with a knee injury to join a list of casualties that includes Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Arjen Robben and Andriy Shevchenko.

"At the moment, we go into the FA Cup Final with only 15 players,' he added. "Ballack is out. Carvalho no chance. Robben has a chance of being on the bench."

Those injuries might wash with the supporters but nationwide sympathy will be in short supply at Wembley.