Olympique Marseille 1 Chelsea 0

Chelsea did everything wrong in the Stade Velodrome and went from a poor first half showing in which Robert Pires scored the winner for Olympique Marseille to a truly dismal second half display that showed signs of tiredness.

OM recovered from recent bad results to hold the English side and then extend them as Stephane Dalmat and Pires ran the game.

Chelsea's midfield showed its poorest form of the season in the south of France and no player in their side looked even adequate as formations were changed and personnel altered to no effect as the French side remained dominant.

Poor service to Flo blunted any chance of a Chelsea goal and from early on they were having to chase the game. Chelsea managed to make a club in freefall for the past three months in the French First Division look like world beaters as coach Gianluca Vialli watched in the stands while serving a one match ban from the touch line.

The result could put Chelsea out of the competition as the Rome defeat for SS Lazio against Feyenoord leaves the December duds from Rotterdam top of Group D and OM back in contention with this win.

Pires capped a good start from the home side by taking the ball close to the dead ball line in the 15th minute accompanied by Marcel Desailly. Somehow the talented Pires decided to shoot and he squeezed the ball from a very narrow angle to the near post of Ed de Goey. The Chelsea goalkeeper allowed the ball to slip in at his near side and OM had won the game as Chelsea failed to get going at all.

A header from Poyet in injury time crashed against reserve goalkeeper Trebizan whose reflex save summed up the growing confidence felt by the French side as they completed their best display of the year so far.

These two teams meet again next week at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea must now defeat their tiredness and poor form from this game to get past OM somehow and get back on track in the Champions League.

On this showing the odds are well against them and they face a tough trip to FA Cup semi finalists Newcastle United on Saturday and could get hammered if they perform as badly as this again.